A. Look at the picture. Work in pairs and ask and answer the following questions.
1. What do you think it is?
2. Where is this situated?
3. Are you familiar with something like this?

B. Read the text to find out if your guess about questions 1 and 2 is right.

Lake Baikal is the deepest and one of the biggest and most ancient lakes of the world. It is situated almost in the centre of Asia. Lake Baikal is a gigantic bowl set at 445 meters above sea level. This grand, enormous, unusual and charming miracle of nature is located in the south of Eastern Siberia, in the Buryat Autonomous Republic and region of Irkutsk, Russia.

The lake covers 31,500 sq km. It is 636 km long and on an average of 48 km wide. The widest point of the lake is 79.4 km. The water basin occupies 557,000 sq km. and contains 23,000 cu km (cubic kilometer) of water, which is about one fifth of the world's reservoir of fresh surface water.
The average water level in the lake is never higher than 456m. The average depth of Lake Baikal is 730 m, and its maximum depth in the middle is 1,620 m. It would take about one year for all the rivers of the world to fill Baikal's basin, and would take four hundred years for all the rivers, streams and brooks now flowing into Siberian lakesea to do the same.

There are hot springs in the surrounding area of Lake Baikal. The quality of the water of these springs is excellent. The lake acts as a powerful generator and bio filter producing this water. Baikal is a stormy lake. Autumn is the most stormy time. The wind blows in various directions.
The weather depends on the wind. If it is blowing from the north, the weather is bright and sunny. The water of the lake looks green and dark blue. But if the winds get stronger, Baikal turns black, waves rise high with white crest. The beauty of Lake Baikal is exceptional.

C. Match the words with the meanings.

D. Read the text in C again and complete the chart.

E. Make a list of attractive features of Lake Baikal.

F. Have you seen a lake or river that has attracted you very much? If yes, write what aspects of the lake or river appealed to you. If not, go and see a lake or a river. Then write about it.