full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Jan Bill: What was so special about Viking ships?

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Competing chieftains quickly refined the new ships to be even more efficient. The lighter the boat, the more versatile it would be and the less investment of resources it would require— an essential advantage in a decentralized culture without large supplies of ppolee. These ships still had no sails— slias were costly, and for now the rowed sphis could meet their needs.

That changed after the wtrseen Roman Empire capsloeld in the 5th cnturey. Western Europe took a hveay economic blow, leveling the playing field a bit for the Scandinavians. As the region revived, new and vigorous trade routes extended into and through Scandinavia. The wealth that flowed along these routes hleped create a new, more prosperous and powerful csals of Scandinavians, whose members cmtpeoed csoattnlny with each other over trade routes and territory. By the 8th century, a sailing ship began to make sense: it could go further, faster, in search of newly available plunder. With the addition of sails, the already light and sepdey ships became nearly unbeatable. The Viking ship was born.

Open Cloze


Competing chieftains quickly refined the new ships to be even more efficient. The lighter the boat, the more versatile it would be and the less investment of resources it would require— an essential advantage in a decentralized culture without large supplies of ______. These ships still had no sails— _____ were costly, and for now the rowed _____ could meet their needs.

That changed after the _______ Roman Empire _________ in the 5th _______. Western Europe took a _____ economic blow, leveling the playing field a bit for the Scandinavians. As the region revived, new and vigorous trade routes extended into and through Scandinavia. The wealth that flowed along these routes ______ create a new, more prosperous and powerful _____ of Scandinavians, whose members ________ __________ with each other over trade routes and territory. By the 8th century, a sailing ship began to make sense: it could go further, faster, in search of newly available plunder. With the addition of sails, the already light and ______ ships became nearly unbeatable. The Viking ship was born.

Solution


  1. century
  2. competed
  3. people
  4. collapsed
  5. helped
  6. constantly
  7. class
  8. speedy
  9. western
  10. sails
  11. ships
  12. heavy

Original Text


Competing chieftains quickly refined the new ships to be even more efficient. The lighter the boat, the more versatile it would be and the less investment of resources it would require— an essential advantage in a decentralized culture without large supplies of people. These ships still had no sails— sails were costly, and for now the rowed ships could meet their needs.

That changed after the Western Roman Empire collapsed in the 5th century. Western Europe took a heavy economic blow, leveling the playing field a bit for the Scandinavians. As the region revived, new and vigorous trade routes extended into and through Scandinavia. The wealth that flowed along these routes helped create a new, more prosperous and powerful class of Scandinavians, whose members competed constantly with each other over trade routes and territory. By the 8th century, a sailing ship began to make sense: it could go further, faster, in search of newly available plunder. With the addition of sails, the already light and speedy ships became nearly unbeatable. The Viking ship was born.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
roman empire 4
trade routes 3
log boat 3
boat base 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
log boat base 2

Important Words


  1. addition
  2. advantage
  3. began
  4. bit
  5. blow
  6. boat
  7. born
  8. century
  9. changed
  10. chieftains
  11. class
  12. collapsed
  13. competed
  14. competing
  15. constantly
  16. costly
  17. create
  18. culture
  19. decentralized
  20. economic
  21. efficient
  22. empire
  23. essential
  24. europe
  25. extended
  26. faster
  27. field
  28. flowed
  29. heavy
  30. helped
  31. investment
  32. large
  33. leveling
  34. light
  35. lighter
  36. meet
  37. members
  38. newly
  39. people
  40. playing
  41. plunder
  42. powerful
  43. prosperous
  44. quickly
  45. refined
  46. region
  47. resources
  48. revived
  49. roman
  50. routes
  51. rowed
  52. sailing
  53. sails
  54. scandinavia
  55. scandinavians
  56. search
  57. ship
  58. ships
  59. speedy
  60. supplies
  61. territory
  62. trade
  63. unbeatable
  64. versatile
  65. vigorous
  66. viking
  67. wealth
  68. western