AV Clip 5: The Importance of Water Listen to a passage three times and while listening, you are to put the missing word in each numbered blank according to what you hear. Experts say water is important for many reasons. Between fifty-five and seventy-five percent of the body is water. Water in blood carries (1)__________ and antibodies through the body. Water in urine carries away waste materials. Water is needed for (2)_________ the body on hot days, and when we are working or exercising. Water carries body heat to the surface of the skin. There, the heat is lost through (3)____________. Health experts say adults should drink about two liters of water a day to (4)________ all the water lost in liquid wastes and perspiration. They say people should drink more than that in hot weather. Experts say it is important to drink before, during and after (5)________. They say we should drink water even before we start to feel like we need something to drink. During hot weather, cool liquids are best. Also, (6)________ sweet drinks and alcohol. We need to add that doctors also say it is possible to drink too much water. Some people, for example, do this if they exercise hard during a (7) _______ wave. Experts with the Mayo Clinic say drinking too much water can cause hyponatremia. In this condition, the level of (8) ______ in the blood falls too low. The result is that the amount of water in the body increases. This causes cells to become larger. Mayo Clinic experts say the (9)________ cells can cause a person to become sick or (10)________. They also can interfere with mental ability, make (11)________ weak and cause pain in the head. In a mild case, simply reducing fluids may be all that the person needs. But medical help is necessary if the condition is more(12) _________.