What do you know about Australia?

Exercise 1. Read and translate the text:

There are many names for Australia - Oz, Down Under, and the official name, the Commonwealth of Australia - but the name that the Australians like is «the Lucky Country». It probably didn’t seem very lucky to the first European settlers. They were

convicts who had been transported from Britain. However, after gold was discovered in the 1850s, thousands of free settlers left the cold, dark industrial towns of Britain to find their place in the sun. Australia has a population of about sixteen and a half million people. In a country of over seven and a half million square kilometers – the sixth largest in the world – this is a very small population. At least three cities in the world have larger populations than the whole of Australia. Over half the population lives in the south-east corner of the country between the two state capitals of Sydney and Melbourne. Over eighty per cent of Australia's inhabitant’s are of British origin and this can be seen in many aspects of Australian life. English is the national language, cricket is the national game, and they drive on the left. In recent years, however, most immigrants have come from other European countries such as Italy, Greece and Poland or from Asian countries. Only about one per cent of the inhabitants are Aborigines.

Australia is a huge country and has a wide range of climates from the tropical rain forest of the Northern Territory and northern Queensland to the mild temperate climate of Victoria and Tasmania in the south east. About two-thirds of the land is desert or semi-desert.

Although Sydney, with its beautiful harbour, bridge and opera house, is the largest city it isn't the capital. Australia is a federal state and, like the United States of America, it has a separate capital city - Canberra - which isn't in any of the states themselves. The Commonwealth of Australia consists of six states (Western Australia, Queensland, South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania) and two territories (the Northern Territory and the Canberra Capital Territory). The Head of Government is the Prime Minister but the Head of State is still the British monarch.

Mining, industry and agriculture are Australia's most important sources of income. More recently, tourism has become important, too. Tourists come to enjoy Australia's warm climate, to see the unique animals, such as the kangaroo, the koala and the platypus, and to see beautiful natural features like the Great Barrier Reef and the mysterious Ayers Rock.

Vocabulary:

commonwealth –содружество

settler - поселенец

convict - осужденный

industrial towns – промышленные города

population - население

inhabitant - житель

huge - огромный

land – земля

desert - пустыня

harbor - гавань

federal state – федеральное государство

head of Government – глава правительства

head of State – глава государства

mining – горная промышленность

agriculture – сельское хозяйство

source of income – источник дохода

unique – уникальный

platypus - утконос

natural features – природные явления

Exercise 2. Copy and complete this table:

1. Official name ___________

2. Area __________________

3. Population _____________

4. Language _______________

5. Currency _______________

6. Largest city _____________

7. Capital city ________________

8. Political structure____________

9. Head of Government__________

10. Head of State ________________

11. Main sources of income _________

Exercise 3. Подготовьте чтение последнего абзаца текста и пришлите в голосовом сообщении.

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