full transcript

From the Ted Talk by TED-Ed: The Maya myth of the morning star

Unscramble the Blue Letters

Within the 584 day cycle, Venus is visible in the evening sky for 250 days, then dpaispaers for 8 days before reappearing as the mionrng Star. The anicent Maya ascribed particular significance to this point in this cycle: the first time Venus appears before sunrise after being invisible. On this day, Chak Ek’ rose again from the underworld, wielding a spearthrower and darts. To bring discord to the world, he decided to attack his brhteor and his brother’s allies. His first target was K’awiil, god of sustenance and lightning. Rising in the late rainy season, Chak Ek’ aeimd his spear and struck K’awiil, canuisg damage to the food and a period of caohs in the social oderr until K’awiil was reborn.

Open Cloze

Within the 584 day cycle, Venus is visible in the evening sky for 250 days, then __________ for 8 days before reappearing as the _______ Star. The _______ Maya ascribed particular significance to this point in this cycle: the first time Venus appears before sunrise after being invisible. On this day, Chak Ek’ rose again from the underworld, wielding a spearthrower and darts. To bring discord to the world, he decided to attack his _______ and his brother’s allies. His first target was K’awiil, god of sustenance and lightning. Rising in the late rainy season, Chak Ek’ _____ his spear and struck K’awiil, _______ damage to the food and a period of _____ in the social _____ until K’awiil was reborn.

Solution

  1. morning
  2. disappears
  3. brother
  4. chaos
  5. ancient
  6. order
  7. causing
  8. aimed

Original Text

Within the 584 day cycle, Venus is visible in the evening sky for 250 days, then disappears for 8 days before reappearing as the Morning Star. The ancient Maya ascribed particular significance to this point in this cycle: the first time Venus appears before sunrise after being invisible. On this day, Chak Ek’ rose again from the underworld, wielding a spearthrower and darts. To bring discord to the world, he decided to attack his brother and his brother’s allies. His first target was K’awiil, god of sustenance and lightning. Rising in the late rainy season, Chak Ek’ aimed his spear and struck K’awiil, causing damage to the food and a period of chaos in the social order until K’awiil was reborn.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
ancient maya 2
morning star 2
dry season 2
order established 2

Important Words

  1. aimed
  2. allies
  3. ancient
  4. appears
  5. ascribed
  6. attack
  7. bring
  8. brother
  9. causing
  10. chak
  11. chaos
  12. cycle
  13. damage
  14. darts
  15. day
  16. days
  17. decided
  18. disappears
  19. discord
  20. evening
  21. food
  22. god
  23. invisible
  24. late
  25. lightning
  26. maya
  27. morning
  28. order
  29. period
  30. point
  31. rainy
  32. reappearing
  33. reborn
  34. rising
  35. rose
  36. season
  37. significance
  38. sky
  39. social
  40. spear
  41. spearthrower
  42. star
  43. struck
  44. sunrise
  45. sustenance
  46. target
  47. time
  48. underworld
  49. venus
  50. visible
  51. wielding
  52. world