TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Ben Saunders: Why did I ski to the North Pole?

Unscramble the Blue Letters

It just about worked. A pttery dimaatrc landing — the plane actually pseasd over four tiems, and I was a bit worried it wasn't going to land at all. The pilot, I knew, was cllaed Troy. I was expecting someone called Troy that did this for a living to be a pretty tough kind of guy. I was bawling my eyes out by the time the plane lneadd — a pretty emotional moment. So I thought, I've got to cmospoe myself for Troy. I'm spusepod to be the roughty toughty explorer type. The palne taxied up to where I was siatndng. The door opened. This guy jumped out. He's about that tall. He said, "Hi, my name is Troy." (Laughter). The co-pilot was a lady called micnoa. She sat there in a sort of hand-knitted jumper. They were the least macho people I've ever met, but they made my day. Troy was smoking a cigarette on the ice; we took a few pothos. He climbed up the ladder. He said, "Just — just get in the back." He therw his cigarette out as he got on the front, and I cbmield in the back. (Laughter) txeaid up and down the ruwany a few times, just to feltatn it out a bit, and he said, "Right, I'm going to — I'm going to give it a go." And he — I've now learned that this is standard practice, but it had me worried at the time. He put his hand on the throttle. You can see the cotonrl for the engines is actually on the roof of the ckcpiot. It's that little bar there. He put his hand on the throttle. Monica very gently put her hand sort of on top of his. I thought, "God, here we go. We're, we're — this is all or nothing." Rammed it forwards. Bounced down the runway. Just took off. One of the skis just clipped a pressure ridge at the end of the runway, banking. I could see into the cockpit, Troy battling the controls, and he just took one hand off, reached back, flipped a switch on the roof of the cockpit, and it was the "fasten seat belt" sign you can see on the wall. (Laughter) And only from the air did I see the big picture. Of course, when you're on the ice, you only ever see one obstacle at a time, whether it's a pressure ridge or there's a bit of water. This is probably why I didn't get into trouble about the length of my artriisp. I mean, it really was starting to break up.

Open Cloze

It just about worked. A ______ ________ landing — the plane actually ______ over four _____, and I was a bit worried it wasn't going to land at all. The pilot, I knew, was ______ Troy. I was expecting someone called Troy that did this for a living to be a pretty tough kind of guy. I was bawling my eyes out by the time the plane ______ — a pretty emotional moment. So I thought, I've got to _______ myself for Troy. I'm ________ to be the roughty toughty explorer type. The _____ taxied up to where I was ________. The door opened. This guy jumped out. He's about that tall. He said, "Hi, my name is Troy." (Laughter). The co-pilot was a lady called ______. She sat there in a sort of hand-knitted jumper. They were the least macho people I've ever met, but they made my day. Troy was smoking a cigarette on the ice; we took a few ______. He climbed up the ladder. He said, "Just — just get in the back." He _____ his cigarette out as he got on the front, and I _______ in the back. (Laughter) ______ up and down the ______ a few times, just to _______ it out a bit, and he said, "Right, I'm going to — I'm going to give it a go." And he — I've now learned that this is standard practice, but it had me worried at the time. He put his hand on the throttle. You can see the _______ for the engines is actually on the roof of the _______. It's that little bar there. He put his hand on the throttle. Monica very gently put her hand sort of on top of his. I thought, "God, here we go. We're, we're — this is all or nothing." Rammed it forwards. Bounced down the runway. Just took off. One of the skis just clipped a pressure ridge at the end of the runway, banking. I could see into the cockpit, Troy battling the controls, and he just took one hand off, reached back, flipped a switch on the roof of the cockpit, and it was the "fasten seat belt" sign you can see on the wall. (Laughter) And only from the air did I see the big picture. Of course, when you're on the ice, you only ever see one obstacle at a time, whether it's a pressure ridge or there's a bit of water. This is probably why I didn't get into trouble about the length of my ________. I mean, it really was starting to break up.

Solution

standing
landed
threw
pretty
monica
plane
called
photos
flatten
supposed
dramatic
taxied
passed
compose
runway
control
airstrip
cockpit
times
climbed

Original Text

It just about worked. A pretty dramatic landing — the plane actually passed over four times, and I was a bit worried it wasn't going to land at all. The pilot, I knew, was called Troy. I was expecting someone called Troy that did this for a living to be a pretty tough kind of guy. I was bawling my eyes out by the time the plane landed — a pretty emotional moment. So I thought, I've got to compose myself for Troy. I'm supposed to be the roughty toughty explorer type. The plane taxied up to where I was standing. The door opened. This guy jumped out. He's about that tall. He said, "Hi, my name is Troy." (Laughter). The co-pilot was a lady called Monica. She sat there in a sort of hand-knitted jumper. They were the least macho people I've ever met, but they made my day. Troy was smoking a cigarette on the ice; we took a few photos. He climbed up the ladder. He said, "Just — just get in the back." He threw his cigarette out as he got on the front, and I climbed in the back. (Laughter) Taxied up and down the runway a few times, just to flatten it out a bit, and he said, "Right, I'm going to — I'm going to give it a go." And he — I've now learned that this is standard practice, but it had me worried at the time. He put his hand on the throttle. You can see the control for the engines is actually on the roof of the cockpit. It's that little bar there. He put his hand on the throttle. Monica very gently put her hand sort of on top of his. I thought, "God, here we go. We're, we're — this is all or nothing." Rammed it forwards. Bounced down the runway. Just took off. One of the skis just clipped a pressure ridge at the end of the runway, banking. I could see into the cockpit, Troy battling the controls, and he just took one hand off, reached back, flipped a switch on the roof of the cockpit, and it was the "fasten seat belt" sign you can see on the wall. (Laughter) And only from the air did I see the big picture. Of course, when you're on the ice, you only ever see one obstacle at a time, whether it's a pressure ridge or there's a bit of water. This is probably why I didn't get into trouble about the length of my airstrip. I mean, it really was starting to break up.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
north pole	4
open water	4
helicopter pilots	3
guy called	2
slap bang	2
artic ocean	2
ice conditions	2
hf radio	2
ski poles	2
radical approach	2
pack ice	2
full moon	2
pocket wireless	2
satellite phone	2
blogging live	2
called troy	2
pressure ridge	2
south pole	2
ross ice	2
ice shelf	2
return journey	2

ngrams of length 3

collocation	frequency
ross ice shelf	2

Important Words

air
airstrip
banking
bar
battling
bawling
big
bit
bounced
break
called
cigarette
climbed
clipped
cockpit
compose
control
controls
day
door
dramatic
emotional
engines
expecting
explorer
eyes
flatten
flipped
forwards
front
gently
give
guy
hand
ice
jumped
jumper
kind
knew
ladder
lady
land
landed
landing
laughter
learned
length
living
macho
met
moment
monica
obstacle
opened
passed
people
photos
picture
pilot
plane
practice
pressure
pretty
put
rammed
reached
ridge
roof
roughty
runway
sat
seat
sign
skis
smoking
sort
standard
standing
starting
supposed
switch
tall
taxied
thought
threw
throttle
time
times
top
tough
toughty
trouble
troy
type
wall
water
worked
worried