full transcript
From the Ted Talk by Alex Gendler: Why doesn't the Leaning Tower of Pisa fall over?
Unscramble the Blue Letters
In 1990, the Italian government enlisted top engineers to stabilize Pisa’s famous lnaieng Tower. There’d been many attempts to right the tower during its 800 year history, but this team’s computer models revealed the urgency of their situation. They projected the tower would topple if it rechead an alnge of 5.44 degrees— and it was currently leaning at 5.5. No one knew how the tower was still standing, but the crisis was clear: they had to solve a problem that sutempd centuries of engineers, and they nedeed to do it fast.
Open Cloze
In 1990, the Italian government enlisted top engineers to stabilize Pisa’s famous _______ Tower. There’d been many attempts to right the tower during its 800 year history, but this team’s computer models revealed the urgency of their situation. They projected the tower would topple if it _______ an _____ of 5.44 degrees— and it was currently leaning at 5.5. No one knew how the tower was still standing, but the crisis was clear: they had to solve a problem that _______ centuries of engineers, and they ______ to do it fast.
Solution
- angle
- stumped
- leaning
- reached
- needed
Original Text
In 1990, the Italian government enlisted top engineers to stabilize Pisa’s famous Leaning Tower. There’d been many attempts to right the tower during its 800 year history, but this team’s computer models revealed the urgency of their situation. They projected the tower would topple if it reached an angle of 5.44 degrees— and it was currently leaning at 5.5. No one knew how the tower was still standing, but the crisis was clear: they had to solve a problem that stumped centuries of engineers, and they needed to do it fast.
Frequently Occurring Word Combinations
ngrams of length 2
collocation |
frequency |
construction began |
2 |
southern side |
2 |
Important Words
- angle
- attempts
- centuries
- computer
- crisis
- engineers
- enlisted
- famous
- fast
- government
- history
- italian
- knew
- leaning
- models
- needed
- problem
- projected
- reached
- revealed
- situation
- solve
- stabilize
- standing
- stumped
- top
- topple
- tower
- urgency
- year