full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Stefan Al: Why isn't the Netherlands underwater?

Unscramble the Blue Letters

The Netherlands has a long history with water management. The country lies along the detla of three major European rivers, and nearly a quarter of its territory is below sea level. This geography makes the region extremely prone to flooding. So much so, that some of the elasiret Dutch governing bdeios were informal “water boards” that cdionaoretd flood protection projects. But after the storms of 1953, the Dutch government took more official measures. They established the Delta Commission, and tasked them with pirotetcng the entire southwestern rioegn. fsunoicg on densely poeapltud cities, their aim was to reduce the annual odds of flooding below 1 in 10,000— about 100 times as safe as the average coastal city.

Open Cloze

The Netherlands has a long history with water management. The country lies along the _____ of three major European rivers, and nearly a quarter of its territory is below sea level. This geography makes the region extremely prone to flooding. So much so, that some of the ________ Dutch governing ______ were informal “water boards” that ___________ flood protection projects. But after the storms of 1953, the Dutch government took more official measures. They established the Delta Commission, and tasked them with __________ the entire southwestern ______. ________ on densely _________ cities, their aim was to reduce the annual odds of flooding below 1 in 10,000— about 100 times as safe as the average coastal city.

Solution

  1. protecting
  2. delta
  3. coordinated
  4. earliest
  5. region
  6. populated
  7. focusing
  8. bodies

Original Text

The Netherlands has a long history with water management. The country lies along the delta of three major European rivers, and nearly a quarter of its territory is below sea level. This geography makes the region extremely prone to flooding. So much so, that some of the earliest Dutch governing bodies were informal “water boards” that coordinated flood protection projects. But after the storms of 1953, the Dutch government took more official measures. They established the Delta Commission, and tasked them with protecting the entire southwestern region. Focusing on densely populated cities, their aim was to reduce the annual odds of flooding below 1 in 10,000— about 100 times as safe as the average coastal city.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
water management 3
sea level 2
densely populated 2
delta works 2

Important Words

  1. aim
  2. annual
  3. average
  4. bodies
  5. cities
  6. city
  7. coastal
  8. commission
  9. coordinated
  10. country
  11. delta
  12. densely
  13. dutch
  14. earliest
  15. entire
  16. established
  17. european
  18. extremely
  19. flood
  20. flooding
  21. focusing
  22. geography
  23. governing
  24. government
  25. history
  26. informal
  27. level
  28. lies
  29. long
  30. major
  31. management
  32. measures
  33. netherlands
  34. odds
  35. official
  36. populated
  37. projects
  38. prone
  39. protecting
  40. protection
  41. quarter
  42. reduce
  43. region
  44. rivers
  45. safe
  46. sea
  47. southwestern
  48. storms
  49. tasked
  50. territory
  51. times
  52. water