The Sahara Desert in the Past and Now

In this set of materials, the reading passage outlines the characteristics of the Sahara today and the listening passage is a lecture describing the evolution of the Sahara over time.

The reading passage explains that the Sahara is a very huge desert. In fact, it’s the largest desert in the world. For example, it is equal in size to the U.S. Also, it has a very dry climate. For instance, the average rainfall is only 10 centimeters. In addition, it has little surface water like the Nile River and some oases.

The listening passage describes the three stages of evolution of the Sahara. The first stage occurred after an ice age, 10,000 years ago. At that time, the Sahara desert was a lush, green jungle with forests grasslands, and lakes. It also had large animals such as hippos and elephants. There were many kinds of prehistoric people, such as hunters and fishermen. Secondly, 6,000 years ago, it began to dry out. Finally, 4,000 years ago, it had a dramatic shift in climate and became Sahara we know now.