Put a word / phrase in each of the following words to complete the following:
(hold, picks up, even, help, after, thickly, little, hillsides)
Wind, water, air, ice and heat all work to cause erosion. As the wind blows over the land, it often (1)............. small grains of sand. When these grains of sand strike against solid rocks, the rock are slowly worn away. In this way, (2)................ very hard rocks are worn away by the wind.
When particles of rock or soil became loosened in any away, running water carries them down the (3)............ . Some rocks and soil particles are carried into streams and then into the sea.
Land that is covered with trees, grass and other plants wears away very slowly, and so loses very (4)............. of its soil. The roots of plants help to (5)............... the rocks and soil in place. Water that falls on grasslands runs away more slowly than water that falls on bare ground. Thus, forests and grasslands (6)........... to slow down erosion.
Even where the land is (7)............. covered with plants, some erosion goes on. In the spring, the melting snow turns into a large quantity of water that then run downhill in streams. As a stream carries away some of the soil, the stream bed get deeper. (8)............ thousands of years of such erosion, wide valleys are often formed.
(1): pick up
(2): even
(3): thickly
(4): little
(5): hold
(6):help
(7): hillsides
1. pick up
2. even
3.thickly
4. little
5. hold
6. help
7. hillsides
8. after