full transcript
From the Ted Talk by Karen Thompson Walker: What fear can teach us
Unscramble the Blue Letters
Well let's return to the year 1819 for a moment, to the situation facing the crew of the whaleship eessx. Let's take a look at the fears that their imaginations were generating as they drifted in the middle of the pfiicac. Twenty-four hours had now passed since the cpzniisag of the ship. The time had come for the men to make a plan, but they had very few ootinps. In his fascinating account of the disaster, natnaeihl Philbrick wrote that these men were just about as far from land as it was possible to be anywhere on Earth. The men knew that the nearest islands they could reach were the Marquesas Islands, 1,200 miles away. But they'd herad some ftrenighing rumors. They'd been told that these islands, and several others nearby, were populated by cannibals. So the men pictured coming ashore only to be murdered and eaten for dinner. Another possible destination was Hawaii, but given the saeson, the caaptin was afraid they'd be struck by sereve storms. Now the last option was the lsoegnt, and the most difficult: to sail 1,500 miles due south in hopes of reaching a certain band of wnids that could eventually push them toward the coast of South aeirmca. But they knew that the sheer length of this journey would stretch their supplies of food and water. To be eaten by cannibals, to be battered by storms, to savtre to death before reaching land. These were the fears that danced in the itnaimaoings of these poor men, and as it turned out, the fear they chose to listen to would govern whether they lived or died.
Open Cloze
Well let's return to the year 1819 for a moment, to the situation facing the crew of the whaleship _____. Let's take a look at the fears that their imaginations were generating as they drifted in the middle of the _______. Twenty-four hours had now passed since the _________ of the ship. The time had come for the men to make a plan, but they had very few _______. In his fascinating account of the disaster, _________ Philbrick wrote that these men were just about as far from land as it was possible to be anywhere on Earth. The men knew that the nearest islands they could reach were the Marquesas Islands, 1,200 miles away. But they'd _____ some ___________ rumors. They'd been told that these islands, and several others nearby, were populated by cannibals. So the men pictured coming ashore only to be murdered and eaten for dinner. Another possible destination was Hawaii, but given the ______, the _______ was afraid they'd be struck by ______ storms. Now the last option was the _______, and the most difficult: to sail 1,500 miles due south in hopes of reaching a certain band of _____ that could eventually push them toward the coast of South _______. But they knew that the sheer length of this journey would stretch their supplies of food and water. To be eaten by cannibals, to be battered by storms, to ______ to death before reaching land. These were the fears that danced in the ____________ of these poor men, and as it turned out, the fear they chose to listen to would govern whether they lived or died.
Solution
- capsizing
- options
- severe
- pacific
- america
- nathaniel
- imaginations
- essex
- winds
- season
- starve
- frightening
- heard
- longest
- captain
Original Text
Well let's return to the year 1819 for a moment, to the situation facing the crew of the whaleship Essex. Let's take a look at the fears that their imaginations were generating as they drifted in the middle of the Pacific. Twenty-four hours had now passed since the capsizing of the ship. The time had come for the men to make a plan, but they had very few options. In his fascinating account of the disaster, Nathaniel Philbrick wrote that these men were just about as far from land as it was possible to be anywhere on Earth. The men knew that the nearest islands they could reach were the Marquesas Islands, 1,200 miles away. But they'd heard some frightening rumors. They'd been told that these islands, and several others nearby, were populated by cannibals. So the men pictured coming ashore only to be murdered and eaten for dinner. Another possible destination was Hawaii, but given the season, the captain was afraid they'd be struck by severe storms. Now the last option was the longest, and the most difficult: to sail 1,500 miles due south in hopes of reaching a certain band of winds that could eventually push them toward the coast of South America. But they knew that the sheer length of this journey would stretch their supplies of food and water. To be eaten by cannibals, to be battered by storms, to starve to death before reaching land. These were the fears that danced in the imaginations of these poor men, and as it turned out, the fear they chose to listen to would govern whether they lived or died.
Frequently Occurring Word Combinations
ngrams of length 2
| collocation |
frequency |
| whaleship essex |
3 |
| south america |
2 |
| worst fears |
2 |
Important Words
- account
- afraid
- america
- ashore
- band
- battered
- cannibals
- capsizing
- captain
- chose
- coast
- coming
- crew
- danced
- death
- destination
- died
- dinner
- disaster
- drifted
- due
- earth
- eaten
- essex
- eventually
- facing
- fascinating
- fear
- fears
- food
- frightening
- generating
- govern
- hawaii
- heard
- hopes
- hours
- imaginations
- islands
- journey
- knew
- land
- length
- listen
- lived
- longest
- marquesas
- men
- middle
- miles
- moment
- murdered
- nathaniel
- nearby
- nearest
- option
- options
- pacific
- passed
- philbrick
- pictured
- plan
- poor
- populated
- push
- reach
- reaching
- return
- rumors
- sail
- season
- severe
- sheer
- ship
- situation
- south
- starve
- storms
- stretch
- struck
- supplies
- time
- told
- turned
- water
- whaleship
- winds
- wrote
- year