Australia and New Zealand – maturitní otázka

Otázka: Australia and New Zealand

Jazyk: Angličtina

Přidal(a): terez2242

AUSTRALIA

Geographical location and facts
Officially Commonwealth of Australia
Australia is located in south-east Asia
It is the smallest inhabited continent in the world.
2 Oceansà the Indian Ocean is west and south, the Pacific (Coral and Tasman Seas) is east.
The Great Dividing Range along the Eastern coast (The Australian Alps) has the highest Australian mountain Mt. Kosciusko (2228 m).
The western plateau rises to 607 with arid areas in the Great Sandy and Great Victoria Deserts.
The Murray River flows from New South Wales to the Indian Ocean and is 2575 km long.
The second largest river is the Darling.
There are 3 big lakes there: Lake Eyre, Lake Torrens and Lake Gairdner.
The Australian climate varies from warm to subtropical.
The continent is in the southern hemisphere which means that Australia has summer when we have winter and vice versa-
The tropical forests in the north and north-east are displaced (vytlačeny) by savanna or grassland.
The south-east is covered with forests of eucalyptus and other evergreen trees.
The animals of Australia are numerous (početný) and some of them, like the kangaroo, koala bear, dingo, platypus (ptakopysk) cannot be found elsewhere (někde jinde)à endemics
Sheep and rabbits were brought from England
Rabbits increased (přibývali) and grew (rostli) wild and mean a big danger for Australian farmers.

Political system and administration

The official title is The Commonwealth of Australia and it is a British dominion. It has a democratic, federal system and the head of the state is Queen Elizabeth II, The head of government is the Prime Minister.
The Federal Parliament has seat in Canberra and is divided into the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Australia is a federal state consisting of 6 states and 2 territories: New South Wales (Sydney), Victoria (Melbourne), Queensland (Brisbane), South Australia (Adelaide), Western Australia (Perth) and Tasmania (Hobart).
The Australian Capital Territory is a part of the country surrounding Australia´s capital Canberra, which had been chosen and built up as the capital of the whole (celé) country. Northern Territory is thinly (slabě) populated, however there is a strong urge (touha) now to change it into the seventh state (about 140 000 people live there).

Symbols

The national flag
- The flag consists of (skládá se z) the British Flag symbol and a larger blue field in which 5 stars are arranged in the form of the Southern Cross constellation. The large white star under the British Union Jack symbolizes 6 Australian states and 1 territory.

Currency and economy

Currency used in Australia is Australian Dollar. 1.6 AUSD = 1 USD.
Australia is a rich country: iron ore (Fe ruda), oil, natural gas and coal are found there.
Australia is also rich in gold, silver, and other precious (drahé) metals.
And it is the greatest producer of wool in the world.
It’s the second biggest export is wheat; other exports are beef, mutton (skopové) and minerals.

Points of interests

Australian deserts are red, orange and brown. Various (proměnlivý) rocks of strange shapes (tvary) can be found there. Ayers Rock, the largest piece of rock in the world, is the most famous of them. It is 335 metres high. Australian call it Uluru and they consider it (považují) the holy mountain (rock).
Sydney – the oldest, largest, the most beautiful and the most modern city. It has about 3.7 mil. People. Sydney is dominated by the Harbour Bridge whose arch (oblouk, klenba, mostovka) is about 135 m above water level. The bridge provides the main link (spojení) between the city and its northern suburbs (předměstí). A wonderful part of Sydney is the famous Opera House designed by a Danish architect. It stands in the harbour and looks like sailing boats.

History

Captain James Cook explored the eastern coast in 1770 when the continent was inhabited by a variety of different tribes (kmeny).
Within (v průběhu) decades Britain got the entire (veškerý) continent which became a convict (trestanecký) colony from 1788 till 1850s when immigration increased because gold was found here.
The Commonwealth (společenství národů) was proclaimed in 1901. About 3 million Europeans had entered Australia since 1945.
Aborigines and part-aborigines are mostly detribalized (zrušeny kmeny) but there are several preserves in the Northwest Territory. They remain economically disadvantaged (znevýhodněny).

Original inhabitants

The population of Australia is about 18.5 million people.
The density (hustota) is one of the lowest in the world – only 2 people to 1 sq. km around 85% people live in urban areas mainly along the south-east coast. Deserts and the tropical northern part are practically uninhabited (neobydlený). 95% of inhabitants are of British origin, 3% are made by other European ethnic groups and about 200 000 Australian Aborigines (Aboriginals). 7% of population work in agriculture, 30% in industry and trade (obchod) and 32.6% in services (služby).

Famous people

An actor Hugh Jackman, Chris Hemsworth, Mel Gibson or actress Nicole Kidman, singer Kylie Minogue

Lifestyle

Sheep and cattle (dobytek) farmers live on isolated farms called stations in Australia.
The farmers do not often go to towns or see their neighbours who live more than one hundred miles away. They contact their friends, business partners and shopkeepers (obchodníky) by means of radio (prostřednictvím rádia).
Radio is most important for them. Neither (ani) could their children, who cannot go to school in faraway places, do without it. It is their school at home. They listen, talk to their teachers and ask questions over the radio.
They write exercises and do homework which is sent off by post to be corrected. They meet their teacher only once a year, at a summer camp.

NEW ZEALAND

Geographical location and facts

New Zealand is to be found in south-east of Australia.
It consists (skládá se) of 2 large islands – the North Island and the South Island.
New Zealand is mainly mountainous (hornatý).
Mount Cook in the Southern Alps in the South Island is 3 764 m high.
The North Island is predominantly famous for its volcanic (vulkanický) area.
It also has many small lakes.
The climate is very pleasant all the year round in New Zealand.