full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Ben Saunders: Why did I ski to the North Pole?

Unscramble the Blue Letters

Why? I'm not an explorer in the traditional sense. I'm not siinkg along drawing maps; everyone knows where the North Pole is. At the South Pole there's a big scientific base. There's an airstrip. There's a cafe and there's a toriust shop. For me, this is about exopinlrg human limits, about exploring the limits of physiology, of psychology and of technology. They're the things that excite me. And it's also about potential, on a pansoerl level. This, for me, is a chance to explore the limits — really push the limits of my own potential, see how far they stretch. And on a wider scale, it amazes me how ppleoe go through life just stcinhracg the surface of their potential, just doing three or four or five percent of what they're truly capable of. So, on a wider scale, I hope that this journey was a chance to inprsie other people to think about what they want to do with their paeitontl, and what they want to do with the tiny amount of time we each have on this planet. That's as clsoe as I can come to summing that up.

Open Cloze

Why? I'm not an explorer in the traditional sense. I'm not ______ along drawing maps; everyone knows where the North Pole is. At the South Pole there's a big scientific base. There's an airstrip. There's a cafe and there's a _______ shop. For me, this is about _________ human limits, about exploring the limits of physiology, of psychology and of technology. They're the things that excite me. And it's also about potential, on a ________ level. This, for me, is a chance to explore the limits — really push the limits of my own potential, see how far they stretch. And on a wider scale, it amazes me how ______ go through life just __________ the surface of their potential, just doing three or four or five percent of what they're truly capable of. So, on a wider scale, I hope that this journey was a chance to _______ other people to think about what they want to do with their _________, and what they want to do with the tiny amount of time we each have on this planet. That's as _____ as I can come to summing that up.

Solution

  1. potential
  2. tourist
  3. people
  4. skiing
  5. exploring
  6. inspire
  7. scratching
  8. close
  9. personal

Original Text

Why? I'm not an explorer in the traditional sense. I'm not skiing along drawing maps; everyone knows where the North Pole is. At the South Pole there's a big scientific base. There's an airstrip. There's a cafe and there's a tourist shop. For me, this is about exploring human limits, about exploring the limits of physiology, of psychology and of technology. They're the things that excite me. And it's also about potential, on a personal level. This, for me, is a chance to explore the limits — really push the limits of my own potential, see how far they stretch. And on a wider scale, it amazes me how people go through life just scratching the surface of their potential, just doing three or four or five percent of what they're truly capable of. So, on a wider scale, I hope that this journey was a chance to inspire other people to think about what they want to do with their potential, and what they want to do with the tiny amount of time we each have on this planet. That's as close as I can come to summing that up.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
north pole 4
open water 4
helicopter pilots 3
guy called 2
slap bang 2
artic ocean 2
ice conditions 2
hf radio 2
ski poles 2
radical approach 2
pack ice 2
full moon 2
pocket wireless 2
satellite phone 2
blogging live 2
called troy 2
pressure ridge 2
south pole 2
ross ice 2
ice shelf 2
return journey 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
ross ice shelf 2

Important Words

  1. airstrip
  2. amazes
  3. amount
  4. base
  5. big
  6. cafe
  7. capable
  8. chance
  9. close
  10. drawing
  11. excite
  12. explore
  13. explorer
  14. exploring
  15. hope
  16. human
  17. inspire
  18. journey
  19. level
  20. life
  21. limits
  22. north
  23. people
  24. percent
  25. personal
  26. physiology
  27. planet
  28. pole
  29. potential
  30. psychology
  31. push
  32. scale
  33. scientific
  34. scratching
  35. sense
  36. shop
  37. skiing
  38. south
  39. stretch
  40. summing
  41. surface
  42. technology
  43. time
  44. tiny
  45. tourist
  46. traditional
  47. wider