full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Richard Preston: The mysterious lives of giant trees

Unscramble the Blue Letters

rrhaicd Preston: Yes, that is cerorct. I mentioned Hyperion, the world's tlslaet tree. And I was a member of a climbing team that made the first climb of it, in 2006. And while we were climbing hoepyirn, Marie Antoine setoptd an unknown species of golden-brown ant about halfway up the trunk. Ants are not known to occur in Redwood trees, corlusuiy enough, and we wondered whether this ant, this species of ant, was only endemic to that one tree, or possibly to that grove. And in subsequent climbs they could never find that ant again, and so no specimens have ever been collected. We don't know what it is — we just know it's there.

Open Cloze

_______ Preston: Yes, that is _______. I mentioned Hyperion, the world's _______ tree. And I was a member of a climbing team that made the first climb of it, in 2006. And while we were climbing ________, Marie Antoine _______ an unknown species of golden-brown ant about halfway up the trunk. Ants are not known to occur in Redwood trees, _________ enough, and we wondered whether this ant, this species of ant, was only endemic to that one tree, or possibly to that grove. And in subsequent climbs they could never find that ant again, and so no specimens have ever been collected. We don't know what it is — we just know it's there.

Solution

  1. curiously
  2. hyperion
  3. richard
  4. tallest
  5. spotted
  6. correct

Original Text

Richard Preston: Yes, that is correct. I mentioned Hyperion, the world's tallest tree. And I was a member of a climbing team that made the first climb of it, in 2006. And while we were climbing Hyperion, Marie Antoine spotted an unknown species of golden-brown ant about halfway up the trunk. Ants are not known to occur in Redwood trees, curiously enough, and we wondered whether this ant, this species of ant, was only endemic to that one tree, or possibly to that grove. And in subsequent climbs they could never find that ant again, and so no specimens have ever been collected. We don't know what it is — we just know it's there.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
redwood forest 4
forest canopy 4
eastern hemlock 4
north coast 3
living organism 3
human time 3
marie antoine 3
flying buttress 3
coast redwood 2
sequoia sempervirens 2
oldest living 2
coast redwoods 2
individual trees 2
redwood rainforest 2
national park 2
tallest tree 2
big redwood 2
redwood time 2
steve sillett 2
redwood trees 2
climbing trees 2
tree boat 2
lose sight 2
huckleberry bushes 2
redwoods grow 2
extends upward 2
trunks springing 2
canopy soil 2
hemlock forest 2
great smoky 2
smoky mountains 2
mountains national 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
redwood forest canopy 3
great smoky mountains 2
smoky mountains national 2

ngrams of length 4

collocation frequency
great smoky mountains national 2

Important Words

  1. ant
  2. antoine
  3. ants
  4. climb
  5. climbing
  6. climbs
  7. collected
  8. correct
  9. curiously
  10. endemic
  11. find
  12. grove
  13. halfway
  14. hyperion
  15. marie
  16. member
  17. mentioned
  18. occur
  19. possibly
  20. redwood
  21. richard
  22. species
  23. specimens
  24. spotted
  25. subsequent
  26. tallest
  27. team
  28. tree
  29. trees
  30. trunk
  31. unknown
  32. wondered