full transcript

From the Ted Talk by E.O. Wilson: My wish Build the Encyclopedia of Life

Unscramble the Blue Letters

Out of that broader study has emerged a concern and an ambition, crystallized in the wish that I'm about to make to you. My choice is the ctliminuaon of a lifetime commitment that began with growing up on the Gulf Coast of aalbama, on the filroda peninsula. As far back as I can reembemr, I was enchanted by the natural batuey of that region and the almost tropical exuberance of the plants and animals that grow there. One day when I was only seven years old and fishing, I pulled a "pinfish," they're called, with srhap dorsal spenis, up too hard and fast, and I blinded myself in one eye. I later dsevocired I was also hard of hearing, possibly cgeontlailny, in the upper rsreetgis. So in planning to be a professional naturalist — I never considered anything else in my entire life — I found that I was lousy at bird watching and couldn't trcak frog calls either. So I turned to the teeming small creatures that can be held between the thumb and forefinger: the little things that compose the foundation of our ecosystems, the little things, as I like to say, who run the world. In so doing, I reached a fnteiror of biology so strange, so rich, that it seemed as though it exists on another planet. In fact, we live on a mostly unexplored planet. The great majority of omnrasgis on Earth remain unknown to science.

Open Cloze

Out of that broader study has emerged a concern and an ambition, crystallized in the wish that I'm about to make to you. My choice is the ___________ of a lifetime commitment that began with growing up on the Gulf Coast of _______, on the _______ peninsula. As far back as I can ________, I was enchanted by the natural ______ of that region and the almost tropical exuberance of the plants and animals that grow there. One day when I was only seven years old and fishing, I pulled a "pinfish," they're called, with _____ dorsal ______, up too hard and fast, and I blinded myself in one eye. I later __________ I was also hard of hearing, possibly ____________, in the upper _________. So in planning to be a professional naturalist — I never considered anything else in my entire life — I found that I was lousy at bird watching and couldn't _____ frog calls either. So I turned to the teeming small creatures that can be held between the thumb and forefinger: the little things that compose the foundation of our ecosystems, the little things, as I like to say, who run the world. In so doing, I reached a ________ of biology so strange, so rich, that it seemed as though it exists on another planet. In fact, we live on a mostly unexplored planet. The great majority of _________ on Earth remain unknown to science.

Solution

  1. frontier
  2. registers
  3. beauty
  4. sharp
  5. culmination
  6. florida
  7. organisms
  8. spines
  9. discovered
  10. track
  11. alabama
  12. remember
  13. congenitally

Original Text

Out of that broader study has emerged a concern and an ambition, crystallized in the wish that I'm about to make to you. My choice is the culmination of a lifetime commitment that began with growing up on the Gulf Coast of Alabama, on the Florida peninsula. As far back as I can remember, I was enchanted by the natural beauty of that region and the almost tropical exuberance of the plants and animals that grow there. One day when I was only seven years old and fishing, I pulled a "pinfish," they're called, with sharp dorsal spines, up too hard and fast, and I blinded myself in one eye. I later discovered I was also hard of hearing, possibly congenitally, in the upper registers. So in planning to be a professional naturalist — I never considered anything else in my entire life — I found that I was lousy at bird watching and couldn't track frog calls either. So I turned to the teeming small creatures that can be held between the thumb and forefinger: the little things that compose the foundation of our ecosystems, the little things, as I like to say, who run the world. In so doing, I reached a frontier of biology so strange, so rich, that it seemed as though it exists on another planet. In fact, we live on a mostly unexplored planet. The great majority of organisms on Earth remain unknown to science.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
nematode worms 4
large part 2
lives depend 2
pathogenic bacteria 2
climate change 2

Important Words

  1. alabama
  2. ambition
  3. animals
  4. beauty
  5. began
  6. biology
  7. bird
  8. blinded
  9. broader
  10. called
  11. calls
  12. choice
  13. coast
  14. commitment
  15. compose
  16. concern
  17. congenitally
  18. considered
  19. creatures
  20. crystallized
  21. culmination
  22. day
  23. discovered
  24. dorsal
  25. earth
  26. ecosystems
  27. emerged
  28. enchanted
  29. entire
  30. exists
  31. exuberance
  32. eye
  33. fact
  34. fast
  35. fishing
  36. florida
  37. foundation
  38. frog
  39. frontier
  40. great
  41. grow
  42. growing
  43. gulf
  44. hard
  45. hearing
  46. held
  47. life
  48. lifetime
  49. live
  50. lousy
  51. majority
  52. natural
  53. naturalist
  54. organisms
  55. peninsula
  56. planet
  57. planning
  58. plants
  59. possibly
  60. professional
  61. pulled
  62. reached
  63. region
  64. registers
  65. remain
  66. remember
  67. rich
  68. run
  69. science
  70. sharp
  71. small
  72. spines
  73. strange
  74. study
  75. teeming
  76. thumb
  77. track
  78. tropical
  79. turned
  80. unexplored
  81. unknown
  82. upper
  83. watching
  84. world
  85. years