full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Thomas W. Cronin: Which animal has the best eyesight?

Unscramble the Blue Letters

The eyes that see best in darkness are those that ctpraue as much available lghit as possible. Colossal squids have soccer-ball-sized eyes— the largest known in existence. These may help them spot the faint glow of sperm whales as they disturb light-producing organisms. Some fish have eyes that are unique among vertebrates because they use mrroirs. For the brownsnout spookfish, each eye has an upward-facing lens and a downward-pointing mirror copmseod of tiny crystal plates that efficiently gather light. They can see up and down simultaneously, and may perceive distinct shapes, even in the ocean’s depths. Back on solid gurond, arctic reindeer have adaptations to deal with mnohts of darkness. The bckas of reindeer eyes change color, from gold in summer to blue in winter. Their blue-backed eyes are about 1,000 tiems more sensitive to light. This may allow reindeer to rgnozceie imaropntt things in the snow like urine and lichen.

Open Cloze

The eyes that see best in darkness are those that _______ as much available _____ as possible. Colossal squids have soccer-ball-sized eyes— the largest known in existence. These may help them spot the faint glow of sperm whales as they disturb light-producing organisms. Some fish have eyes that are unique among vertebrates because they use _______. For the brownsnout spookfish, each eye has an upward-facing lens and a downward-pointing mirror ________ of tiny crystal plates that efficiently gather light. They can see up and down simultaneously, and may perceive distinct shapes, even in the ocean’s depths. Back on solid ______, arctic reindeer have adaptations to deal with ______ of darkness. The _____ of reindeer eyes change color, from gold in summer to blue in winter. Their blue-backed eyes are about 1,000 _____ more sensitive to light. This may allow reindeer to _________ _________ things in the snow like urine and lichen.

Solution

  1. ground
  2. months
  3. recognize
  4. times
  5. important
  6. mirrors
  7. light
  8. capture
  9. composed
  10. backs

Original Text

The eyes that see best in darkness are those that capture as much available light as possible. Colossal squids have soccer-ball-sized eyes— the largest known in existence. These may help them spot the faint glow of sperm whales as they disturb light-producing organisms. Some fish have eyes that are unique among vertebrates because they use mirrors. For the brownsnout spookfish, each eye has an upward-facing lens and a downward-pointing mirror composed of tiny crystal plates that efficiently gather light. They can see up and down simultaneously, and may perceive distinct shapes, even in the ocean’s depths. Back on solid ground, arctic reindeer have adaptations to deal with months of darkness. The backs of reindeer eyes change color, from gold in summer to blue in winter. Their blue-backed eyes are about 1,000 times more sensitive to light. This may allow reindeer to recognize important things in the snow like urine and lichen.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
vision requires 2

Important Words

  1. adaptations
  2. arctic
  3. backs
  4. blue
  5. brownsnout
  6. capture
  7. change
  8. color
  9. colossal
  10. composed
  11. crystal
  12. darkness
  13. deal
  14. depths
  15. distinct
  16. disturb
  17. efficiently
  18. existence
  19. eye
  20. eyes
  21. faint
  22. fish
  23. gather
  24. glow
  25. gold
  26. ground
  27. important
  28. largest
  29. lens
  30. lichen
  31. light
  32. mirror
  33. mirrors
  34. months
  35. organisms
  36. perceive
  37. plates
  38. recognize
  39. reindeer
  40. sensitive
  41. shapes
  42. simultaneously
  43. snow
  44. solid
  45. sperm
  46. spookfish
  47. spot
  48. squids
  49. summer
  50. times
  51. tiny
  52. unique
  53. urine
  54. vertebrates
  55. whales
  56. winter