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
- morning
- disappears
- brother
- chaos
- ancient
- order
- causing
- 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
- aimed
- allies
- ancient
- appears
- ascribed
- attack
- bring
- brother
- causing
- chak
- chaos
- cycle
- damage
- darts
- day
- days
- decided
- disappears
- discord
- evening
- food
- god
- invisible
- late
- lightning
- maya
- morning
- order
- period
- point
- rainy
- reappearing
- reborn
- rising
- rose
- season
- significance
- sky
- social
- spear
- spearthrower
- star
- struck
- sunrise
- sustenance
- target
- time
- underworld
- venus
- visible
- wielding
- world