NCERT Book Class 7 English The Desert

The Dessert

THOSE of us who live in regions covered with forests and surrounded by hills may find it difficult to imagine what a desert is really like. The popular belief is that it is an endless stretch of sand where no rain falls and, therefore, no vegetation grows. It is dry, hot, waterless and without shelter. But this is not entirely correct. For those who have studied it, the desert can be a beautiful place. It is the home of a variety of people, animals and plants that have learnt to live under very hot and dry conditions.

True, the ground is not always hidden by a cover of grass, plants and trees as it is in other climates. But whenever it rains, which is rare, desert flowers bloom and the sight can be as rewarding as that of any tropical garden. A desert is not always a flat, unchanging wasteland of dry sand. It may have mountains and hills. It may have an oasis, big or small. An oasis is like a green island in the middle of a desert where a spring or a well gives plants and trees a better chance to grow. A desert may be hot like the Thar or cold like Ladakh. But, generally speaking, if a place has little or no water and vegetation, people usually call it a desert.

Some deserts are almost totally without water. In such places, strong winds blow raising heaps of sand and depositing them as mounds. These are called ‘sand dunes’ that shift and move endlessly across the desert. Few plants can survive on such dry, shifting sands.

All living things need water in order to survive. The few plants and animals that live in deserts have developed the ability to require less water than most plants and animals. The camel, popularly known as the ‘ship of the desert’, can drink a lot of water at one time. Camels can do without water for days together. The reason is they sweat very little.

We sweat because we must keep our body temperature constant. We sweat when it gets hot, and this cools the body. Camels can stand high body temperature. They don’t need to sweat and can, therefore, retain the water they drink for long periods of time.

The smaller desert animals do not drink water. They burrow underground during the hot day and come out at night to eat. Some of them eat other animals and get the water they need from the moisture in the meat. Others eat plants and seeds and get the water they need from plant juices.

Exercise

Do the following activities in groups.

1. Describe a desert in your own way. Write a paragraph and read it aloud to your classmates.

2. Go to the library and collect information about the lifestyle of people in desert areas— their food, clothes, work, social customs, etc. Share this information with the group

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Please refer to attached file for NCERT Class 7 English The Dessert