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UNIT 3
Lesson 12
Exercise 1.2
The Disappearing Sea
The Aral Sea is a large lake in Central Asia.
There are two large rivers
that give water to the lake.
Around 1960, farmers started to take water
from the rivers to use it on their farms.
This happened for a long time but nobody saw
that there was a danger.
Then, during the 1980s,
very little water-or sometimes no waster at all
-reached the Aral Sea.
In 1988, the lake separated into
the Large Aral Sea and the Small Aral Sea.
Over the years a lot of the lake disappeared.
But still the government did nothing.
The Disappearing Towns
The water became very salty
and this was not good for plant and animal life
Now the water of the Aral Sea is nolonger clear
There are no more fish.
Fishermen who worked on the lake
cannot work any more.
There were many towns at the side of the lake
before 1960.
Now these towns are many miles from the water.
There isn't anything there--
just old fishing boats lying on the sand.
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