some interesting material for the presentation and you want
to read this text to your friend. You have 1.5 minutes to read the text silently, then be ready to read it out aloud. You will not have more than 1.5 minutes to read it.
Many lands that had once been swamps were drained or filled in. There are different reasons why people drained swamplands. Some were drained to fight diseases caused by insects that lived in them. Because swamps were considered unpleasant places in which to live and harmful to health, many people thought that unless they were drained the land was worthless.
Other swamps were drained to make new land. As the population grew and more land was needed, people drained swamps or filled them to make room for more farms and factories, more roads and airports.
Few people thought that it might be harmful to get rid of swamps. As swamps disappeared, other things happened. There were both more floods and more droughts than before. There were also more fires, for swamps had acted as firebreaks. Hunters noticed that there was less wild game. Wild life that once lived in the swamps was dying out, because it had no place to live.
