2. Find in the text the English equivalents for the following words and word-combinations:

огромные гидрогеологические изменения, орошение, требование, впадающие реки, десятилетия, исследовать, последствия, проблема Аральского моря, предложенные решения, пустыни Центральной Азии, уровень, определять, испарение, выпадение осадков, оценивать, второстепенная роль, приблизительные данные, независимые государства, целиком, частично, бассейн Аральского моря, кроме северной части, включать, население, четвертое по величине озеро в мире, рыбный промысел, обширная дельта, разнообразие флоры и фауны, важное экономическое значение, расти в изобилии, многочисленный, за последние 40 лет, пустыня, разделять, с тех пор, насыпь, оставаться.

3. Make questions of the following statements and then give short answers to each of them:

1. The land-locked Aral Sea was the world's fourth largest lake.

2. The Aral Sea is now half the size.

3. The huge lake has shrunk considerably.

4. Expanding irrigation has reduced river inflow to the Aral Sea.

5. The Aral Sea is located among the deserts of Central Asia.

6. Data on net ground water exchange are approximate.

7. Five independent nations lie in the sea's basin.

8. The population of that part of the Aral Sea basin was around 35 mln.

9. The lake was populated mainly by fresh water species.

10. Reeds grow in abundance in the numerous wetlands and lakes.

4. Find in the text the passages to which the questions refer:

1. Why has the Aral Sea shrunk considerably?

2. Where is the Aral Sea located?

3. Why did the drying, recession and salingation of the Aral Sea accelerate in the 1970-1980s?

4. What part of the Aral Sea will stabilize by 2005?

5. Read the following sentences and point out the subject and the predicate in each of them:

1. This paper investigates the nature, causes and consequences of the Aral Sea problem.

2. One of the planet's most serious environmental and human tragedies is unfolding in the basin of the Aral Sea.

3. Expanding irrigation has reduced river inflow to the Aral Sea.

The Aral Sea had a productive fishery and served as a major transportation route.

4. Irrigation expansion in the Aral Sea basin after 1960 required much more water per hectar.

5. The Aral Sea is divided into two water bodies.

New words and expressions:

degradation – деградация

severe – суровый

cease – прекращать

adapt – приспосабливать

spawn – метать икру

feed – кормить, питаться

hinder – мешать

access – доступ

abandon – оставлять

suffer – страдать, испытывать

damage – повреждать

disaster – бедствие

decline – понижение

pasture – пастбище, подножный корм

affect – действовать, влиять

inedible – несъедобный

vegetation – растительность

graze – пастись

plateau – плато, плоскогорье

implicate – вовлекать

respiratory – дыхательный

digestive – пищеварительный

inhalation – вдыхание

ingestion – глотание

hygienic – гигиенический

drainage – сток

treatment – обработка

pesticide – пестицид

fertilizer – удобрение

contaminate – загрязнять, заражать

morbid – болезненный, патологический

constrained – принужденный

affliction – огорчение

morbidity – патология

Read the international words and give their Russian equivalents:

degradation, commercial, adapt, condition, area, navigation, kilometre, stop, port, major, limit, region, population, million, ecological, zone, serious, delta, reduction, associate, agriculture, practice, system, productivity, natural, vegetation, plateau, respiratory, variety, medical, hygienic, drainage, canal, minimal, critical, problem, pesticide, incedent, factor, diet, general, infant.

The environmental, economic and human degradation from the Aral Sea's desiccation have been wide-ranging and severe. Commercial fishing ceased in the early 1980s as native species, unable to adapt to rapidly changing conditions (chiefly rising salinity and loss of spawning and feeding areas), disappeared and the shoreline receded ten of kilometers from fishing towns and villages, hindering access to the sea by fishing boats. Commercial navigation across the Aral Sea also stopped as efforts to keep the increasingly long navigation channels open to the major port of Aralsk became too costly and difficult and were abandoned.