名校最新大学英语四级阅读精讲的系列讲义：(132)_大学英语阅读

名校最新大学英语四级阅读精讲的系列讲义：(132)

　　Scientists say there has been a severe decrease in the amount of water in Lake Chad in northern Africa in the last thirty years. They report that nature and humans share equal blame for this loss.

　　In 1963 the fresh water lake covered twenty-five-thousand-square kilometers.Now the lake is only about five percent of that size.It measures only about one-thousand-three-hundred square kilometers in the dry season.

　　Four nations surround Lake Chad. People in Niger, Nigeria, Chad, and Cameroon use it for water, fish and plant life.

　　Michael Coe and Jonathan Foley are water experts at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.They reported about Lake Chad in the Journal of Geophysical Research.They say the area has suffered from a lack of heavy rain for more than thirty years.This has forced people to build systems to carry water to dry land.These irrigation systems further decrease the lake.

　　Mister Coe says Lake Chad will be only a small body of water in the future. He says people still can get water from the lake to drink and for crops. But he says the lake will no longer provide a healthy environment for fish and plant life.

　　The researchers used a computer to study what caused the water loss. Their computer study estimated the climate and amount of water in the area. The estimate started with the early 1960s. Then the researchers compared the estimates with the areas recorded climate and water supply for the same period.