full transcript
From the Ted Talk by Alice Rawsthorn: Pirates, nurses and other rebel designers
Unscramble the Blue Letters
So Edward Teach rensedegid himself as Blackbeard by plyiang the part of a merciless brute. He wore heavy jactkes and big hats to accentuate his height. He grew the bsuhy blcak beard that obscured his face. He sulng bacers of pistols on either shoulder. He even attached matches to the brim of his hat and set them alight, so they sizzled menacingly whenever his ship was poised to attack. And like many pitears of that era, he flew a flag that bore the macabre slombys of a human skull and a pair of crossed bones, because those motifs had signified death in so many cultures for centuries, that their meaning was instantly recognizable, even in the lawless, illiterate world of the high seas: surrender or you'll suffer. So of course, all his sensible victims sreenudrred on sight.
Open Cloze
So Edward Teach __________ himself as Blackbeard by _______ the part of a merciless brute. He wore heavy _______ and big hats to accentuate his height. He grew the _____ _____ beard that obscured his face. He _____ ______ of pistols on either shoulder. He even attached matches to the brim of his hat and set them alight, so they sizzled menacingly whenever his ship was poised to attack. And like many _______ of that era, he flew a flag that bore the macabre _______ of a human skull and a pair of crossed bones, because those motifs had signified death in so many cultures for centuries, that their meaning was instantly recognizable, even in the lawless, illiterate world of the high seas: surrender or you'll suffer. So of course, all his sensible victims ___________ on sight.
Solution
- black
- pirates
- braces
- symbols
- redesigned
- slung
- jackets
- surrendered
- playing
- bushy
Original Text
So Edward Teach redesigned himself as Blackbeard by playing the part of a merciless brute. He wore heavy jackets and big hats to accentuate his height. He grew the bushy black beard that obscured his face. He slung braces of pistols on either shoulder. He even attached matches to the brim of his hat and set them alight, so they sizzled menacingly whenever his ship was poised to attack. And like many pirates of that era, he flew a flag that bore the macabre symbols of a human skull and a pair of crossed bones, because those motifs had signified death in so many cultures for centuries, that their meaning was instantly recognizable, even in the lawless, illiterate world of the high seas: surrender or you'll suffer. So of course, all his sensible victims surrendered on sight.
Frequently Occurring Word Combinations
ngrams of length 2
collocation |
frequency |
ying zheng |
2 |
edward teach |
2 |
deadly symbol |
2 |
professional designers |
2 |
arthur zang |
2 |
Important Words
- accentuate
- alight
- attached
- attack
- beard
- big
- black
- blackbeard
- bones
- bore
- braces
- brim
- brute
- bushy
- centuries
- crossed
- cultures
- death
- edward
- era
- face
- flag
- flew
- grew
- hat
- hats
- heavy
- height
- high
- human
- illiterate
- instantly
- jackets
- lawless
- macabre
- matches
- meaning
- menacingly
- merciless
- motifs
- obscured
- pair
- part
- pirates
- pistols
- playing
- poised
- recognizable
- redesigned
- set
- ship
- shoulder
- sight
- signified
- sizzled
- skull
- slung
- suffer
- surrender
- surrendered
- symbols
- teach
- victims
- wore
- world