full transcript
From the Ted Talk by James Hansen: Why I must speak out about climate change
Unscramble the Blue Letters
Global warming is already aictfnefg people. The Texas, Oklahoma, Mexico heatwave and drought last year, mocsow the year before and Europe in 2003, were all exacteipnol etvens, more than three standard deviations outside the norm. Fifty years ago, such anomalies covered only two- to three-tenths of one percent of the land area. In recent years, because of global warming, they now cvoer about 10 percent — an increase by a factor of 25 to 50. So we can say with a high degree of confidence that the sreeve Texas and Moscow heatwaves were not natural; they were caused by global warming. An important impact, if global warming continues, will be on the bbearsekdat of our ntioan and the wlord, the Midwest and Great Plains, which are expected to become prone to extreme droughts, worse than the Dust Bowl, within just a few decades, if we let goblal warming continue.
Open Cloze
Global warming is already _________ people. The Texas, Oklahoma, Mexico heatwave and drought last year, ______ the year before and Europe in 2003, were all ___________ ______, more than three standard deviations outside the norm. Fifty years ago, such anomalies covered only two- to three-tenths of one percent of the land area. In recent years, because of global warming, they now _____ about 10 percent — an increase by a factor of 25 to 50. So we can say with a high degree of confidence that the ______ Texas and Moscow heatwaves were not natural; they were caused by global warming. An important impact, if global warming continues, will be on the ___________ of our ______ and the _____, the Midwest and Great Plains, which are expected to become prone to extreme droughts, worse than the Dust Bowl, within just a few decades, if we let ______ warming continue.
Solution
- nation
- affecting
- events
- exceptional
- severe
- moscow
- breadbasket
- cover
- world
- global
Original Text
Global warming is already affecting people. The Texas, Oklahoma, Mexico heatwave and drought last year, Moscow the year before and Europe in 2003, were all exceptional events, more than three standard deviations outside the norm. Fifty years ago, such anomalies covered only two- to three-tenths of one percent of the land area. In recent years, because of global warming, they now cover about 10 percent — an increase by a factor of 25 to 50. So we can say with a high degree of confidence that the severe Texas and Moscow heatwaves were not natural; they were caused by global warming. An important impact, if global warming continues, will be on the breadbasket of our nation and the world, the Midwest and Great Plains, which are expected to become prone to extreme droughts, worse than the Dust Bowl, within just a few decades, if we let global warming continue.
Frequently Occurring Word Combinations
ngrams of length 2
| collocation |
frequency |
| global warming |
7 |
| climate change |
7 |
| energy imbalance |
5 |
| fossil fuels |
4 |
| sea level |
4 |
| ice sheets |
4 |
| white house |
3 |
| greenhouse effect |
3 |
| energy balance |
3 |
| fossil fuel |
3 |
| van allen |
2 |
| york times |
2 |
| nasa headquarters |
2 |
| climate history |
2 |
| energy coming |
2 |
| gaining heat |
2 |
| deep ocean |
2 |
| change deniers |
2 |
| burning fossil |
2 |
| ice sheet |
2 |
| important point |
2 |
| amplifying feedbacks |
2 |
ngrams of length 3
| collocation |
frequency |
| climate change deniers |
2 |
Important Words
- affecting
- anomalies
- area
- bowl
- breadbasket
- caused
- confidence
- continue
- continues
- cover
- covered
- decades
- degree
- deviations
- drought
- droughts
- dust
- europe
- events
- exceptional
- expected
- extreme
- factor
- fifty
- global
- great
- heatwave
- heatwaves
- high
- impact
- important
- increase
- land
- mexico
- midwest
- moscow
- nation
- norm
- oklahoma
- people
- percent
- plains
- prone
- severe
- standard
- texas
- warming
- world
- worse
- year
- years