Download Directions: Fill in the 15 blanks ______ in the text using the correct

ESOL 94 – Ford
Cloze Quiz 1: The Aral Sea
Name:
Directions: Fill in the 15 blanks ______ in the text using the correct words from the
following list. Each word should be used.
area
linked
ultimately
economic
region
chemical
consequences
region
environmentally
accumulation
methods
ultimately
impact
accumulation
chemical
The ____________ of attempts at ____________ development on the ecology of
the Aral Sea ____________, however, goes beyond the immediate ____________ of
falling water levels. Inefficient ____________ of irrigation allow much of the water to
evaporate, causing soil salinization, the ____________ of crop-damaging salts in the
soil. Farmers use more water to wash these salts out of the soil; the salts then enter the
rivers, ____________ increasing the salinization of areas downstream and the Aral Sea
itself. Other short-sighted agricultural practices in the irrigated land include the
extensive use of artificial fertilizers and ____________ pesticides to support production
of the two main crops, rice and cotton. As a result, the water that ____________ drains
back into the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya from the fields carries high concentrations
of phosphates and nitrates, as well as ____________ pesticides.
The ____________ of these toxic chemicals in the rivers is now contaminating
local supplies of drinking water. As a result, in the years since 1975, people living in the
____________ have increasingly suffered from a number of serious health problems.
As is often the case with ____________ ____________ illness, infants and children are
the most vulnerable. For example, in Karakalpakia, now the ____________ of
Uzbekistan closest to the Aral Sea, the 1989 mortality rate for children was among the
highest in the world.