full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Luka Seamus Wright: These animals are also plants ... wait, what?

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Take a good look at this slug. No, not that— that’s a leaf. This slug. There we go. Elysia chlorotica may not look like much— okay, it looks like a bright green leaf— but it’s one of the most extraordinary creatures around. Living in salt marshes along the east casot of North America, it can go about a year without eating. During that time, it lives like a plant.

geenrally speaking, animals are what are called heterotrophs, meaning they can’t purcdoe their own food— they’re consumers of other life. Plants, meanwhile, are atrootpuhs, or producers: they can synthesize their own fuel from sinughlt, CO2, and other inorganic compounds. Plants do this by using oellegnars called chloroplasts, which give them their bright colors and convert sunlight into food through ptoessnthoihys.

Open Cloze


Take a good look at this slug. No, not that— that’s a leaf. This slug. There we go. Elysia chlorotica may not look like much— okay, it looks like a bright green leaf— but it’s one of the most extraordinary creatures around. Living in salt marshes along the east _____ of North America, it can go about a year without eating. During that time, it lives like a plant.

_________ speaking, animals are what are called heterotrophs, meaning they can’t _______ their own food— they’re consumers of other life. Plants, meanwhile, are __________, or producers: they can synthesize their own fuel from ________, CO2, and other inorganic compounds. Plants do this by using __________ called chloroplasts, which give them their bright colors and convert sunlight into food through ______________.

Solution


  1. sunlight
  2. organelles
  3. autotrophs
  4. produce
  5. photosynthesis
  6. coast
  7. generally

Original Text


Take a good look at this slug. No, not that— that’s a leaf. This slug. There we go. Elysia chlorotica may not look like much— okay, it looks like a bright green leaf— but it’s one of the most extraordinary creatures around. Living in salt marshes along the east coast of North America, it can go about a year without eating. During that time, it lives like a plant.

Generally speaking, animals are what are called heterotrophs, meaning they can’t produce their own food— they’re consumers of other life. Plants, meanwhile, are autotrophs, or producers: they can synthesize their own fuel from sunlight, CO2, and other inorganic compounds. Plants do this by using organelles called chloroplasts, which give them their bright colors and convert sunlight into food through photosynthesis.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
inorganic compounds 2
giving rise 2


Important Words


  1. america
  2. animals
  3. autotrophs
  4. bright
  5. called
  6. chloroplasts
  7. chlorotica
  8. coast
  9. colors
  10. compounds
  11. consumers
  12. convert
  13. creatures
  14. east
  15. eating
  16. elysia
  17. extraordinary
  18. food
  19. fuel
  20. generally
  21. give
  22. good
  23. green
  24. heterotrophs
  25. inorganic
  26. leaf
  27. life
  28. lives
  29. living
  30. marshes
  31. meaning
  32. north
  33. organelles
  34. photosynthesis
  35. plant
  36. plants
  37. produce
  38. salt
  39. slug
  40. speaking
  41. sunlight
  42. synthesize
  43. time
  44. year