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Lesson 4:Swimming Silently

Lesson 4:Swimming Silently

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Long, long ago, Earth and its creatures began to die.<br />

Litter covered both land and sea, and people poured<br />

torrents of waste into the oceans. Pollutants rained from<br />

the air into the water. Few people saw the dark path they<br />

had set before them . . . and then a new sort of people<br />

came into existence.<br />

Malu<br />

My name is Malu, and I know what it’s like to be a sea<br />

turtle. I can hold my breath underwater for 20 minutes — far<br />

longer than anyone else in my clan. Like the sea turtle, I take<br />

a great gulp of air at the water’s surface and then dive down to<br />

the reef. Twenty minutes is long enough for green turtles to<br />

graze on the grasses of the Pacific Ocean where we live. Like<br />

the turtle, when I’m almost out of air, I race back to the surface<br />

for another breath.<br />

Most times, I wear my air suit and flippers like everyone<br />

else. Then I can stay down even longer. I swim with the turtles<br />

past scurrying schools of fish. We swivel our flippers to turn<br />

around and then pump them to speed ahead. Land people think<br />

that sea turtles are slow because they only see them lumbering<br />

across the sand. Sea turtles are much more accustomed to<br />

moving through water. Underwater, they are fast, fast, fast!<br />

Grandmother likes turtles for another reason. “The turtle<br />

is older than the dinosaur,” she tells me. “It carries time upon<br />

its back.”<br />

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