full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Dan Kwartler: What would happen if every human suddenly disappeared?

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Rural and suburban aeras decay more slwloy, but in lralgey unsurprising ways. Leaks, mold, bug and rodent infestations - all the usual enemies of the homeowner- now go uncontested. Within 75 years, most houses' supporting beams have rotted and sagged, and the resulting cspellaod heap is now home to local rodents and lraizds.

But in this post-human world, “local” has a new meaning. Our cities are full of imported plants, which now run wild across their adopted hmoes. Water hyacinth coat the waterways of Shanghai in a thick green carpet. Poisonous giant hogweeds overgrow the banks of London’s Thames River. chnseie Ailanthus trees burst through New York City streets. And as sunekn skyscrapers add crumbled cntrecoe to the new forest foolr, the soil acidity plummets, potentially allowing new plant life to trvhie.

Open Cloze


Rural and suburban _____ decay more ______, but in _______ unsurprising ways. Leaks, mold, bug and rodent infestations - all the usual enemies of the homeowner- now go uncontested. Within 75 years, most houses' supporting beams have rotted and sagged, and the resulting _________ heap is now home to local rodents and _______.

But in this post-human world, “local” has a new meaning. Our cities are full of imported plants, which now run wild across their adopted _____. Water hyacinth coat the waterways of Shanghai in a thick green carpet. Poisonous giant hogweeds overgrow the banks of London’s Thames River. _______ Ailanthus trees burst through New York City streets. And as ______ skyscrapers add crumbled ________ to the new forest _____, the soil acidity plummets, potentially allowing new plant life to ______.

Solution


  1. collapsed
  2. concrete
  3. slowly
  4. thrive
  5. sunken
  6. largely
  7. areas
  8. chinese
  9. floor
  10. homes
  11. lizards

Original Text


Rural and suburban areas decay more slowly, but in largely unsurprising ways. Leaks, mold, bug and rodent infestations - all the usual enemies of the homeowner- now go uncontested. Within 75 years, most houses' supporting beams have rotted and sagged, and the resulting collapsed heap is now home to local rodents and lizards.

But in this post-human world, “local” has a new meaning. Our cities are full of imported plants, which now run wild across their adopted homes. Water hyacinth coat the waterways of Shanghai in a thick green carpet. Poisonous giant hogweeds overgrow the banks of London’s Thames River. Chinese Ailanthus trees burst through New York City streets. And as sunken skyscrapers add crumbled concrete to the new forest floor, the soil acidity plummets, potentially allowing new plant life to thrive.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
cities built 2


Important Words


  1. acidity
  2. add
  3. adopted
  4. ailanthus
  5. allowing
  6. areas
  7. banks
  8. beams
  9. bug
  10. burst
  11. carpet
  12. chinese
  13. cities
  14. city
  15. coat
  16. collapsed
  17. concrete
  18. crumbled
  19. decay
  20. enemies
  21. floor
  22. forest
  23. full
  24. giant
  25. green
  26. heap
  27. hogweeds
  28. home
  29. homes
  30. hyacinth
  31. imported
  32. infestations
  33. largely
  34. leaks
  35. life
  36. lizards
  37. local
  38. meaning
  39. mold
  40. overgrow
  41. plant
  42. plants
  43. plummets
  44. poisonous
  45. potentially
  46. resulting
  47. river
  48. rodent
  49. rodents
  50. rotted
  51. run
  52. rural
  53. sagged
  54. shanghai
  55. skyscrapers
  56. slowly
  57. soil
  58. streets
  59. suburban
  60. sunken
  61. supporting
  62. thames
  63. thick
  64. thrive
  65. trees
  66. uncontested
  67. unsurprising
  68. usual
  69. water
  70. waterways
  71. ways
  72. wild
  73. world
  74. years
  75. york