TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Cameron Paterson: The infamous and ingenious Ho Chi Minh Trail

Unscramble the Blue Letters

Deep in the jungles of Vietnam, soldiers from both sieds battled heat euoxtisahn and each other for nearly 20 long years. But the key to Communist vtircoy wasn't weaonps or stamina, it was a dirt road. The Ho Chi Minh Trail, winding through Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, started as a simple network of dirt rdaos and blossomed into the centerpiece of the winning North Vietnamese stgarety during the Vietnam War, supplying weapons, troops, and psychological srupopt to the South. The trail was a network of tracks, dirt roads, and river crossings that tdeehard west out of North vtiaenm and stouh along the Truong Son mainuotn Range between Vietnam and Laos. The journey to the South oaliringly took six months. But, with engineering and ingenuity, the Vietnamese expanded and improved the trail. Towards the end of war, as the main roads detoured through Laos, it only took one week. Here is how it happened. In 1959, as raletoins detiereotard between the North and the South, a system of trails was constructed in order to infiltrate soldiers, weapons, and supplies into South Vietnam. The first troops moved in single-file along routes used by local ethnic groups, and broken tree branches at dusty crossroads were often all that indicated the direction. Initially, most of the Communist cadres who came down the trail were Southerners by birth who had trained in North Vietnam. They dressed like civilian peasants in bclak, silk pajamas with a checkered scarf. They wore Ho Chi Minh sandals on their feet, cut from truck tires, and carried their riaton of cooked rice in elephants' intestines, a linen tube hung around the body. The conditions were harsh and many deaths were caused by exposure, malaria, and amoebic dysentery. Getting lost, starving to death, and the possibility of attacks by wild tigers or bears were constant thteras. Meals were invariably just rice and salt, and it was easy to run out. Fear, boredom, and homesickness were the dmninoat eonitmos. And sidorles occupied their spare time by writing leertts, draniwg sketches, and drinking and smoking with local villagers. The first torops down the trail did not engage in much fighntig. And after an exhausting six month trip, arriving in the South was a real highlight, often celebrated by bursting into song. By 1965, the trip down the trail could be made by truck. Thousands of trucks supplied by China and Russia took up the task amidst ferocious B-52 bombing and truck drivers became known as pilots of the ground. As traffic down the trail increased, so did the U.S. bombing. They drove at nhigt or in the early mnrniog to avoid air strikes, and watchmen were ready to warn drivers of enemy aircraft. vgailels along the trail organized teams to guarantee trafifc flow and to help drivers repair dgmaae caused by air attacks. Their ccath cires were, "Everything for our Southern brothers!" and, "We will not worry about our houses if the vehicles have not yet gotten through." Some families donated their doors and wooden beds to repair roads. Vietnamese forces even used dcioeetpn to get the U.S. aircraft to bomb mountainsides in order to make gravel for use in bndiuilg and maintaining roads. The all-pervading red dust seeped into every nook and crnany. The Ho Chi Minh Trail had a punorfod impact on the Vietnam War and it was the key to Hanoi's success. North Vietnamese victory was not determined by the battlefields, but by the trail, which was the piclioatl, strategic, and economic lynchpin. aaemrcnis recognized its achievement, calling the tiral, "One of the garet achievements in military engineering of the 20th century." The trail is a testimony to the strength of will of the Vietnamese people, and the men and women who used the trail have become folk heros.

Open Cloze

Deep in the jungles of Vietnam, soldiers from both _____ battled heat __________ and each other for nearly 20 long years. But the key to Communist _______ wasn't _______ or stamina, it was a dirt road. The Ho Chi Minh Trail, winding through Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, started as a simple network of dirt _____ and blossomed into the centerpiece of the winning North Vietnamese ________ during the Vietnam War, supplying weapons, troops, and psychological _______ to the South. The trail was a network of tracks, dirt roads, and river crossings that ________ west out of North _______ and _____ along the Truong Son ________ Range between Vietnam and Laos. The journey to the South __________ took six months. But, with engineering and ingenuity, the Vietnamese expanded and improved the trail. Towards the end of war, as the main roads detoured through Laos, it only took one week. Here is how it happened. In 1959, as _________ ____________ between the North and the South, a system of trails was constructed in order to infiltrate soldiers, weapons, and supplies into South Vietnam. The first troops moved in single-file along routes used by local ethnic groups, and broken tree branches at dusty crossroads were often all that indicated the direction. Initially, most of the Communist cadres who came down the trail were Southerners by birth who had trained in North Vietnam. They dressed like civilian peasants in _____, silk pajamas with a checkered scarf. They wore Ho Chi Minh sandals on their feet, cut from truck tires, and carried their ______ of cooked rice in elephants' intestines, a linen tube hung around the body. The conditions were harsh and many deaths were caused by exposure, malaria, and amoebic dysentery. Getting lost, starving to death, and the possibility of attacks by wild tigers or bears were constant _______. Meals were invariably just rice and salt, and it was easy to run out. Fear, boredom, and homesickness were the ________ ________. And ________ occupied their spare time by writing _______, _______ sketches, and drinking and smoking with local villagers. The first ______ down the trail did not engage in much ________. And after an exhausting six month trip, arriving in the South was a real highlight, often celebrated by bursting into song. By 1965, the trip down the trail could be made by truck. Thousands of trucks supplied by China and Russia took up the task amidst ferocious B-52 bombing and truck drivers became known as pilots of the ground. As traffic down the trail increased, so did the U.S. bombing. They drove at _____ or in the early _______ to avoid air strikes, and watchmen were ready to warn drivers of enemy aircraft. ________ along the trail organized teams to guarantee _______ flow and to help drivers repair ______ caused by air attacks. Their _____ _____ were, "Everything for our Southern brothers!" and, "We will not worry about our houses if the vehicles have not yet gotten through." Some families donated their doors and wooden beds to repair roads. Vietnamese forces even used _________ to get the U.S. aircraft to bomb mountainsides in order to make gravel for use in ________ and maintaining roads. The all-pervading red dust seeped into every nook and ______. The Ho Chi Minh Trail had a ________ impact on the Vietnam War and it was the key to Hanoi's success. North Vietnamese victory was not determined by the battlefields, but by the trail, which was the _________, strategic, and economic lynchpin. _________ recognized its achievement, calling the _____, "One of the _____ achievements in military engineering of the 20th century." The trail is a testimony to the strength of will of the Vietnamese people, and the men and women who used the trail have become folk heros.

Solution

originally
south
traffic
catch
deception
night
support
building
political
damage
trail
mountain
cranny
ration
cries
roads
threaded
soldiers
vietnam
victory
profound
relations
drawing
threats
great
emotions
letters
black
dominant
troops
strategy
fighting
deteriorated
weapons
exhaustion
americans
sides
villages
morning

Original Text

Deep in the jungles of Vietnam, soldiers from both sides battled heat exhaustion and each other for nearly 20 long years. But the key to Communist victory wasn't weapons or stamina, it was a dirt road. The Ho Chi Minh Trail, winding through Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, started as a simple network of dirt roads and blossomed into the centerpiece of the winning North Vietnamese strategy during the Vietnam War, supplying weapons, troops, and psychological support to the South. The trail was a network of tracks, dirt roads, and river crossings that threaded west out of North Vietnam and south along the Truong Son Mountain Range between Vietnam and Laos. The journey to the South originally took six months. But, with engineering and ingenuity, the Vietnamese expanded and improved the trail. Towards the end of war, as the main roads detoured through Laos, it only took one week. Here is how it happened. In 1959, as relations deteriorated between the North and the South, a system of trails was constructed in order to infiltrate soldiers, weapons, and supplies into South Vietnam. The first troops moved in single-file along routes used by local ethnic groups, and broken tree branches at dusty crossroads were often all that indicated the direction. Initially, most of the Communist cadres who came down the trail were Southerners by birth who had trained in North Vietnam. They dressed like civilian peasants in black, silk pajamas with a checkered scarf. They wore Ho Chi Minh sandals on their feet, cut from truck tires, and carried their ration of cooked rice in elephants' intestines, a linen tube hung around the body. The conditions were harsh and many deaths were caused by exposure, malaria, and amoebic dysentery. Getting lost, starving to death, and the possibility of attacks by wild tigers or bears were constant threats. Meals were invariably just rice and salt, and it was easy to run out. Fear, boredom, and homesickness were the dominant emotions. And soldiers occupied their spare time by writing letters, drawing sketches, and drinking and smoking with local villagers. The first troops down the trail did not engage in much fighting. And after an exhausting six month trip, arriving in the South was a real highlight, often celebrated by bursting into song. By 1965, the trip down the trail could be made by truck. Thousands of trucks supplied by China and Russia took up the task amidst ferocious B-52 bombing and truck drivers became known as pilots of the ground. As traffic down the trail increased, so did the U.S. bombing. They drove at night or in the early morning to avoid air strikes, and watchmen were ready to warn drivers of enemy aircraft. Villages along the trail organized teams to guarantee traffic flow and to help drivers repair damage caused by air attacks. Their catch cries were, "Everything for our Southern brothers!" and, "We will not worry about our houses if the vehicles have not yet gotten through." Some families donated their doors and wooden beds to repair roads. Vietnamese forces even used deception to get the U.S. aircraft to bomb mountainsides in order to make gravel for use in building and maintaining roads. The all-pervading red dust seeped into every nook and cranny. The Ho Chi Minh Trail had a profound impact on the Vietnam War and it was the key to Hanoi's success. North Vietnamese victory was not determined by the battlefields, but by the trail, which was the political, strategic, and economic lynchpin. Americans recognized its achievement, calling the trail, "One of the great achievements in military engineering of the 20th century." The trail is a testimony to the strength of will of the Vietnamese people, and the men and women who used the trail have become folk heros.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
ho chi	3
chi minh	3
north vietnamese	2
north vietnam	2

ngrams of length 3

collocation	frequency
ho chi minh	3

Important Words

achievement
achievements
air
aircraft
americans
amoebic
arriving
attacks
avoid
battled
battlefields
bears
beds
birth
black
blossomed
body
bomb
bombing
boredom
branches
broken
building
bursting
cadres
calling
cambodia
carried
catch
caused
celebrated
centerpiece
century
checkered
chi
china
civilian
communist
conditions
constant
constructed
cooked
cranny
cries
crossings
crossroads
cut
damage
death
deaths
deception
deep
deteriorated
determined
detoured
direction
dirt
dominant
donated
doors
drawing
dressed
drinking
drivers
drove
dust
dusty
dysentery
early
easy
economic
emotions
enemy
engage
engineering
ethnic
exhausting
exhaustion
expanded
exposure
families
fear
feet
ferocious
fighting
flow
folk
forces
gravel
great
ground
groups
guarantee
happened
harsh
heat
heros
highlight
ho
homesickness
houses
hung
impact
improved
increased
infiltrate
ingenuity
initially
intestines
invariably
journey
jungles
key
laos
letters
linen
local
long
lost
lynchpin
main
maintaining
malaria
meals
men
military
minh
month
months
morning
mountain
mountainsides
moved
network
night
nook
north
occupied
order
organized
originally
pajamas
peasants
people
pilots
political
possibility
profound
psychological
range
ration
ready
real
recognized
red
relations
repair
rice
river
road
roads
routes
run
russia
salt
sandals
scarf
seeped
sides
silk
simple
sketches
smoking
soldiers
son
song
south
southern
southerners
spare
stamina
started
starving
strategic
strategy
strength
strikes
success
supplied
supplies
supplying
support
system
task
teams
testimony
thousands
threaded
threats
tigers
time
tires
tracks
traffic
trail
trails
trained
tree
trip
troops
truck
trucks
truong
tube
vehicles
victory
vietnam
vietnamese
villagers
villages
war
warn
watchmen
weapons
week
west
wild
winding
winning
women
wooden
wore
worry
writing
years