full transcript
From the Ted Talk by Lucy Cooke: 3 bizarre (and delightful) ancient theories about bird migration
Unscramble the Blue Letters
aiecnnt naturalists had various theories to explain the annual vanishing act we now know as migration. Aristotle himself proposed three particularly popular iades. One theory was that birds transformed into different bodies that suited the season. For example, smumer time garden warblers were believed to transform into baclk caps every winter. In riaelty these are two distinct species— similar in shape and size, but never appearing at the same time. Over the following centuries, birds were said to morph into humans, plants, and even the timbers of ships. This last taitramotusnn was especially popular with many Christian cgelry. If barnacle geese were truly made of wood, they could be deemed vegetarian and enojeyd during meatless fasts.
Open Cloze
_______ naturalists had various theories to explain the annual vanishing act we now know as migration. Aristotle himself proposed three particularly popular _____. One theory was that birds transformed into different bodies that suited the season. For example, ______ time garden warblers were believed to transform into _____ caps every winter. In _______ these are two distinct species— similar in shape and size, but never appearing at the same time. Over the following centuries, birds were said to morph into humans, plants, and even the timbers of ships. This last _____________ was especially popular with many Christian ______. If barnacle geese were truly made of wood, they could be deemed vegetarian and _______ during meatless fasts.
Solution
- summer
- ancient
- enjoyed
- black
- transmutation
- clergy
- reality
- ideas
Original Text
Ancient naturalists had various theories to explain the annual vanishing act we now know as migration. Aristotle himself proposed three particularly popular ideas. One theory was that birds transformed into different bodies that suited the season. For example, summer time garden warblers were believed to transform into black caps every winter. In reality these are two distinct species— similar in shape and size, but never appearing at the same time. Over the following centuries, birds were said to morph into humans, plants, and even the timbers of ships. This last transmutation was especially popular with many Christian clergy. If barnacle geese were truly made of wood, they could be deemed vegetarian and enjoyed during meatless fasts.
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Important Words
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