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1. Australia is a large country lying between the Indian and Pacific oceans
2. Having been discovered in 1770, Australia was called “Terra Incognita”.
3. Animals inhabiting Australia are very rare.
1. Read the text, translate it:
AUSTRALIA
Australia is the world's smallest, flattest, and driest continent. It is the biggest island and the smallest continent in the world.
Australia is the oldest continent on earth — some of the rocks are more than 3,000 million years old.
Australia is located in the south of Asia, between the Pacific and Indian ocean. It is a vast continent, made up of mainland Australia and of island of Tasmania to the south. It covers a very large area which, in the Northern Hemisphere, would extend roughly from Britain to Russia.
Australia, Tasmania and a number of smaller islands, Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Kangaroo Island among them, form the Commonwealth of Australia. In fact, it is the only country in the world which occupies the territory of the continent.
Australia's area of 7,682,300 sq. km is nearly as large as the United States excluding Alaska and Hawaii. It is twice the size of Western Europe. It is about 25 times larger than Britain and Ireland. It is the sixth largest country in the world.
Australia is the flattest of all continents. It's most significant mountain chain is the Great Dividing Range.
Australia is almost the same size as the continental United States, with a similar diversity of weather. Australia is in the Southern Hemisphere, so the seasons are the other way round. Summer is from December to February, autumn from March to May, winter from June to August, and spring from September to November. It is sometimes called Down Under because of its geographical position.
Many things are different in Australia from our country and many other countries of the world. The seasons are the other way round and even the light is different.
Because of the country's great size, the climate of Australia ranges from the tropical regions of the Northern Territory to the cool temperate conditions in the southeast (Victoria, Tasmania), where it frequently snows in winter.
Most of the country's weather pattern is characterized by clear skies and low rainfall.
Australia's coldest regions are in Tasmania and in the southeast corner of the mainland, where the only regular snowfalls occur and temperatures in winter often fall below zero.
In the early weeks in January (Australian summer) you will find most people at the beach, where you must be careful to "slip, slop and slap" — to slip on tee shirts, slop on sunscreen and slap on hats — to minimize the effects of the sun. As most of the continent is sunny most of the year the major health hazard is sunburn or sunstroke. Australians suffer one of the world's highest rates of skin cancer from overdoses of sun.
The tropical northern region has only two seasons: a hot, wet season with rains falling mainly in February and March, during which the northwest monsoons prevail; and a warm, dry season characterized by the prevalence of south east winds. The tropical belt has two climates: the tropical desert climate (in the western and in the central parts of the country) and the tropical wet climate (in the central part).
Great parts of the interior (the Outback) of the country are very dry. Most of these areas are desert country. In fact, the Great Sandy and Great Victoria Deserts rank among the largest deserts in the world. The deserts of Central and Western Australia take up more than two thirds of the area. The warm, temperate regions of Southern Australia have four seasons, with cool winters and hot summers.
January and February are the hottest months, June and July are the coldest months. Average annual temperatures vary from about 27°C in the far north of the continent to 13°C in the far south. In midsummer in January, average temperatures range from 29°C in the north to 17°C in the south. In July average temperatures range from 25°C in the north to 8°C in the south.
Summer is from December to February; autumn — March to May; winter — June to August; and spring — September to November.
Bush fires are the danger zones of Australian; in summers, temperatures and wind speed are announced daily and "total fire bans" are declared on some days. The fires of summer 1994 are still in the memory of Australians some of whom lost homes built next to bush land areas.
The continent is subject to severe droughts, floods and cyclones along coast. The continent suffers from limited freshwater; irrigated soil degradation; regular, tropical, sea breeze known as the doctor which occurs along west coast in summer; desertification.
Australia is the least populated of the world’s continents. Its population being only 18/3 million people.
Australia’s population is very small for such a huge country but it must be one of most diverse in the world. Australia is a land of immigrants. Its population is subdivided into “original Australians” (known as the Aborigines), “old Australians” and “new Australians”. It’s a multicultural society: nearly five million people are settlers from almost 200 nations.
NOTES:
Down Under — Даун Андер, букв, там, под (разговорное название Австралии и Новой Зеландии, указывающее на географическое положение этих стран по южную сторону экватора);
to slip on tee shirts, slop on sunscreen and slap on hats — натянуть футболку, нацепить солнечные очки и нахлобучить шляпу;
dry season or the Dry — 1) "сухой сезон", засушливое время года на австралийском крайнем севере; 2) перен. зима (в Южном полушарии период с апреля по ноябрь).
Outback — аутбэк (внутренняя часть австралийского материка; наименее заселенная и наиболее засушливая). Синонимы: bushland, the bush, Never-Never Land, the Centre и др.
Translate from English into Russian:
25 times larger than Britain, the same size, cool temperate conditions, to slip on tee shirts, slop on sunscreen, slap on hats, overdoses of sun, the tropical desert climate, average annual temperatures, the danger zones.
Give English equivalents:
обширный континент, единственная страна в мире, температура ниже нуля, свести к минимуму влияние солнца, рак кожи, всеобщий запрет на пожары, территория, засаженная кустами, страдать от ограничения свежей воды, менее всего заселенный континент, такая огромная страна.
Answer the following questions:
1. What kind of continent is Australia?
2. Where is Australia located?
3. What is Australia's area in comparative with Western Europe and the continental United States?
4. Are the seasons in Australia the same as in Europe or the other way? What are they?
5. Why does the climate of Australia range?
6. Where are Australia's coldest regions?
7. What is called Australian summer?
8. What are the hottest months and the coldest months?
9. When and why are "total fire bans" declared?
10. How is population in Australia subdivided?
2. Read the text, translate it:
Canberra
Population 295,000.
Some of the best architecture and exhibitions in Australia are in Canberra and the whole city is fascinating because it is totally planned and orderly. It also has a beautiful setting, surrounded by hills. It is a place of government with few local industries and it has that unique, stimulating atmosphere that's only to be found in national capitals.
Canberra has all the furnishings of a true centre of national life — like the exciting National Gallery, the splendid Parliament House and the excellent National Botanic Gardens. What's more, Canberra has quite a young population, including a lot of students, and it is livelier than we're usually led to expect. Finally, this is the only city in Australia where it really is possible to bump into kangaroos — they've been spotted swimming across Lake Burley Griffin and grazing in the grounds of Parliament House.
Lake Burley Griffin, an artificial waterway, was named after Canberra's designer but was not created until the Molonglo River, on which the city is situated, was dammed in 1963. There are a number of places of interest around the 35-km shore. The most visible is the Capitan Cook Memorial Water Jet which flings a six-tons column of water 140 metres into the air, and will give you a free shower if the wind is blowing from the right direction (despite an automatic switch-off which is supposed to operate if the wind speed gets too high). The jet was built in 1970 to commemorate the bicentenary of Captain Cook's visit to Australia. At Regatta Point, nearby on the north shore, is a skeleton globe with Cook's three great voyages traced on it. The National Capital Exhibition, also at Regata point, has displays on the growth of the capital. Farther around the lake, to the east, is Blundell's Farmhouse (1860). The simple stone and slab cottage is a reminder of the area's early farming history. A little farther around the lake is the Carillon, on Aspen Island. The 53-bell tower was a gift from Britain in 1963, Canberra's 50th anniversary. The bells weigh from seven kg to six tons. The southern shore of the lake, along which the impressive National Gallery and High Court are situated, forms the base of the parliamentary triangle.
South of the lake, the four-legged flag mast on top of Capital Hill marks Parliament House. This, the most recent aspect of Burley Griffin's vision to become a reality, sits at the apex of the parliamentary triangle. Opened in 1988, it cost $1.1 billion, took eight years to build and replaced the 'temporary' parliament house, which served for 11 years longer than its intended 50-year life. The new Parliament was designed by the US-based Italian Romaldo Giurgola, who won a competition entered by more than 300 architects. It's built into the top of the hill and the roof has been grassed over to preserve the shape of the original hilltop. The interior design and decoration is splendid. A different combination of Australian timbers is used in each of the principal sections. Seventy Australian art and craft works were commissioned and a further 3000 were bought.
a) Translate from English into Russian:
to have all the furnishings, the exciting National Gallery, what's more, the only city in Australia, an artificial waterway, to commemorate the bicentenary, early farming history, the 'temporary' parliament house, the interior design, to preserve the shape.
b) Give English equivalents:
весь город, которую только можно найти, атрибуты истинного центра, бесплатный душ, на северном берегу, немного дальше, башня с колокольчиками, южный берег озера, установлен на верху, стать реальностью.
a) Answer the following questions:
1. What is the population of Canberra?
2. Why is the whole city fascinating?
3. What atmosphere does this city have and why?
4. Is Canberra the only city in Australia where it really is possible to bump into kangaroos?
5. What is an artificial waterway, and who it was named after?
6. Why was the Capitan Cook Memorial Water Jet built?
7. What reminds the area's early farming history?
8. Where is Parliament House located?
9. When was it opened and what was it price?
10. Who designed the new Parliament?
3. Read the text, translate it:
"FAIR DINKUM" AUSTRALIAN LANGUAGE/1/
Australia's official language is English. Australians speak the same English across the nation — there are no regional dialects and only minor idiomatic and semantic variations between the State Australians understand each other as easily as they understand person from another country who speaks English. Why is then English-speaking visitors to Australia have trouble understanding the Aussie accent? /2/.
Australian accents are different from various British ones: Australian "day" sounds like "die"; Australian "buy" sounds like "boy" "daylight" ends up something like "die-loyt". Scientists distinguish three different Australian accents: Cultivated, General and Broad. In the "broad" variant the vowel shifts are particularly obvious Australian English, especially its oral and not very educated variaition is called Strine /3/.
There are many theories about the evolution of the Australian accent. There would appear to be influences from cockney pronunciation, and there are also Irish influences as well (a lot of early teachers were of Irish background, particularly in church rаn schools). You will also find remnants of Irish, Scottish and Welsh influences in the Australian pronunciation of some words. Then, of course, there was a large influx of German, Greek and Italian im-migration, which has also had an influence as well. Later the language has been strongly influenced by TV media from the USA.
Australian English does not differ much from other forms of English, although some colloquial and slang expressions are unique. For example: 'G'day' (Good day) means "Hello" and "Ta-ta" means "Goodbye". Australians are fond of inventing and using colloquialisms for every aspect of life — a habit that is now carrying over to the printed word. Colloquialisms by definition belong to-speech rather than to the printed word, but these days newspapers are increasingly using the colloquial. This extensive use of idiomatic expressions in the printed as well as the spoken word astonishes most non-Australians.
It is difficult to explain why some colloquial saying go out of date while others remain immortal. Although the Bondi tram has long since stopped rattling through Sydney, you will still hear on people "shooting through" /4/ like that proverbial vehicle. Decimal currency was introduced into Australia in 1966, yet imperial terms still abound in colloquial sayings like "he's not the full quid's /5/ worth", "the penny finally dropped" and "he's silly as a two-bob /6/watch".
Sayings which have a regional origin are used widely. For example, "Albany doctor" /7/, "back o'Bourke" /8/, "Buckley's chance" /9/, "doesn't know whether it's Pitt Street or Christmas" /10/ are universally used.
There are many native languages which the Aborigines and Torres Strait people speak. One in every seven Australians older than five years speaks a language other than English at home. The most common languages are Italian, Greek, Chinese, German, Arabic/Lebanese, Spanish.
NOTES:
/1/ "fair dinkum" — подлинный, достоверный.
/2/aussie accent — австралийский акцент.
/3/ Strine — страйн (австралийский вариант английского языка; по приписываемому произношению в австрал. варианте слова Australian).
/4/ "shooting through" — от to shoot through like a Bondi tram "промчаться".
/5/ guid— разг. соверен или фунт стерлингов.
/6/bob—разг. шиллинг.
/7/Albany doctor — резкий холодный ветер.
/8/back o'Bourke— глубинка, глушь.
/9/ Buckley's chance — шанс Баркли, т.е. никакого шанса.
/10/ doesn't know whether it's Pitt Street or Christmas — быть сбитым с толку, не понимать, что к чему
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