full transcript

From the Ted Talk by TED-Ed: 3 ways to end a virus

Unscramble the Blue Letters

At the time, Australia was overrun by the European rabbit— an invasive species— so, in an aptmett to ctrnool the population, scientists released a virus called myxoma, which had been previously shown to be almost 100% lethal to European rabbits. During the initial outbreak, as pnnaeld, tens, perhaps hundreds, of millions of eupoaern rabbits died. But as the virus spread, it evolved a series of mutations that happened to make it less deadly, killing rabbits more slowly and killing fewer rabbits overall. With more infected hosts hopping around, this strain of the virus was more likely to spread than its deadlier cousin. And of course, raibbts evovled too, to mount better immune responses.

Open Cloze

At the time, Australia was overrun by the European rabbit— an invasive species— so, in an _______ to _______ the population, scientists released a virus called myxoma, which had been previously shown to be almost 100% lethal to European rabbits. During the initial outbreak, as _______, tens, perhaps hundreds, of millions of ________ rabbits died. But as the virus spread, it evolved a series of mutations that happened to make it less deadly, killing rabbits more slowly and killing fewer rabbits overall. With more infected hosts hopping around, this strain of the virus was more likely to spread than its deadlier cousin. And of course, _______ _______ too, to mount better immune responses.

Solution

  1. rabbits
  2. planned
  3. attempt
  4. evolved
  5. control
  6. european

Original Text

At the time, Australia was overrun by the European rabbit— an invasive species— so, in an attempt to control the population, scientists released a virus called myxoma, which had been previously shown to be almost 100% lethal to European rabbits. During the initial outbreak, as planned, tens, perhaps hundreds, of millions of European rabbits died. But as the virus spread, it evolved a series of mutations that happened to make it less deadly, killing rabbits more slowly and killing fewer rabbits overall. With more infected hosts hopping around, this strain of the virus was more likely to spread than its deadlier cousin. And of course, rabbits evolved too, to mount better immune responses.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
animal reservoir 2
european rabbits 2

Important Words

  1. attempt
  2. australia
  3. called
  4. control
  5. cousin
  6. deadlier
  7. deadly
  8. died
  9. european
  10. evolved
  11. happened
  12. hopping
  13. hosts
  14. hundreds
  15. immune
  16. infected
  17. initial
  18. invasive
  19. killing
  20. lethal
  21. millions
  22. mount
  23. mutations
  24. myxoma
  25. outbreak
  26. overrun
  27. planned
  28. population
  29. previously
  30. rabbits
  31. released
  32. responses
  33. scientists
  34. series
  35. shown
  36. slowly
  37. spread
  38. strain
  39. tens
  40. time
  41. virus