Page 363 - New Medley 5 Semester 1

• Critical thinking

Fill in the blanks with information from the text.

1. The Sahara Desert is in .
2. Riyadh is the capital of .
3. The term, ‘Rub al khali’ means .
4. Petroleum is known as .

Economic Activities

There are limited economic activities in
the sparsely populated Saudi Arabia. At

some places in the hot and dry desert,
underground water reaches the surface

through a permanent spring. These are
called oases. These are the fertile areas Oil well in Saudi Arabia

in the desert where farming can be done.
Date-palms are grown in and around the oasis. Other crops are wheat

and barley. Small villages develop around oasis.

Saudi Arabia is very rich in petroleum. It is known as the liquid gold due

to its economic value in the world. After refining, the crude petroleum
gives us petrol, diesel, kerosene, lubricants and gas. Today, Saudi Arabia

is the largest producer and exporter of petroleum in the world. The
discovery of petroleum has completely changed the life of people in

Saudi Arabia.

Life of the People

The money earned from the export of petroleum has been properly used
in the development of Saudi Arabia. Now most of the people live in

cities. The cities have all modern facilities, such as skyscrapers, hospitals,

schools, industries, markets and very high quality of means of transport.

Most of the villagers have migrated to cities for leading a settled life.
Riyadh is the largest city and Jeddah is the major commercial city and

also a busy seaport.

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