full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Kristiina J. Hurme and Alejandro Rico-Guevara: The surprising secrets of hummingbird flight

Unscramble the Blue Letters

Of course, flying this way can be exhausting. Hovering is one of the most energy isnteinve forms of movement in the ainmal kingdom. And rietlvae to their body size, hudmimgbirns have the highest metabolic rates of all vertebrates. This leads them to eat very frequently— often consuming an average of four meals an hour while flying. Fortunately, their hovering lets them eat at rlmrbakeae angles without perching, consuming food that would otherwise be impossible to reach. Using their long slender bills, they reach deep inside flowers and pump out neactr with their thin grooved tongues. This sguray liquid is a hummingbird’s most important engrey source, and a single bird censumos six times its weight in nectar every day over hundreds of small meals. Each of these sugary snacks also ptaoeinlls the floewr being visited with pollen left on the bird from previous meals.

Open Cloze

Of course, flying this way can be exhausting. Hovering is one of the most energy _________ forms of movement in the ______ kingdom. And ________ to their body size, ____________ have the highest metabolic rates of all vertebrates. This leads them to eat very frequently— often consuming an average of four meals an hour while flying. Fortunately, their hovering lets them eat at __________ angles without perching, consuming food that would otherwise be impossible to reach. Using their long slender bills, they reach deep inside flowers and pump out ______ with their thin grooved tongues. This ______ liquid is a hummingbird’s most important ______ source, and a single bird ________ six times its weight in nectar every day over hundreds of small meals. Each of these sugary snacks also __________ the ______ being visited with pollen left on the bird from previous meals.

Solution

  1. animal
  2. relative
  3. intensive
  4. nectar
  5. sugary
  6. hummingbirds
  7. energy
  8. consumes
  9. flower
  10. pollinates
  11. remarkable

Original Text

Of course, flying this way can be exhausting. Hovering is one of the most energy intensive forms of movement in the animal kingdom. And relative to their body size, hummingbirds have the highest metabolic rates of all vertebrates. This leads them to eat very frequently— often consuming an average of four meals an hour while flying. Fortunately, their hovering lets them eat at remarkable angles without perching, consuming food that would otherwise be impossible to reach. Using their long slender bills, they reach deep inside flowers and pump out nectar with their thin grooved tongues. This sugary liquid is a hummingbird’s most important energy source, and a single bird consumes six times its weight in nectar every day over hundreds of small meals. Each of these sugary snacks also pollinates the flower being visited with pollen left on the bird from previous meals.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
hovering lets 2

Important Words

  1. angles
  2. animal
  3. average
  4. bills
  5. bird
  6. body
  7. consumes
  8. consuming
  9. day
  10. deep
  11. eat
  12. energy
  13. exhausting
  14. flower
  15. flowers
  16. flying
  17. food
  18. forms
  19. fortunately
  20. grooved
  21. highest
  22. hour
  23. hovering
  24. hummingbirds
  25. hundreds
  26. important
  27. impossible
  28. intensive
  29. kingdom
  30. leads
  31. left
  32. lets
  33. liquid
  34. long
  35. meals
  36. metabolic
  37. movement
  38. nectar
  39. perching
  40. pollen
  41. pollinates
  42. previous
  43. pump
  44. rates
  45. reach
  46. relative
  47. remarkable
  48. single
  49. size
  50. slender
  51. small
  52. snacks
  53. source
  54. sugary
  55. thin
  56. times
  57. tongues
  58. vertebrates
  59. visited
  60. weight