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

  1. angle
  2. stumped
  3. leaning
  4. reached
  5. 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

  1. angle
  2. attempts
  3. centuries
  4. computer
  5. crisis
  6. engineers
  7. enlisted
  8. famous
  9. fast
  10. government
  11. history
  12. italian
  13. knew
  14. leaning
  15. models
  16. needed
  17. problem
  18. projected
  19. reached
  20. revealed
  21. situation
  22. solve
  23. stabilize
  24. standing
  25. stumped
  26. top
  27. topple
  28. tower
  29. urgency
  30. year