Работа с текстом "Австралия"
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Australia

The Commonwealth of Australia is formed of Australia, Tasmania and several smaller islands (for example, Cocos Islands, Kangaroo Island and others).     Australia itself is made up of the mainland of Australia and the island of Tasmania in the South. It is located between the Pacific and the Indian oceans in the Southern Hemisphere.

The Australian continent is washed in the North by the Timor Sea, the Arafura Sea, Gulf of Carpentaria and Torres Strait, in the East by the Tasman Sea and the Coral Sea of the South Pacific Ocean, in the South by Bass Strait and the Indian Ocean.

Australia’s neighboring countries are Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea in the North, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia in the north-east and New Zealand in the south-east.

 Australia is "the most" country in many ways. It is the world’s biggest island and the smallest continent at the same time. It is almost 25 times larger than the British Isles. And it is nearly as large as the territory of the USA without Alaska and Hawaii.                                      

  Australia is the only country in the world which has the territory of the whole continent. Australia’s total area is 7,690,000 sq kilometres. It is also the oldest, the flattest and the driest continent in the world. Australia is the oldest continent, because some rocks are more than 3 million years old. Australia is the flattest continent of all. But still it has mountains. Its main mountain chain is the Great Dividing Range which is known as "the Australian Alps". It runs along the western coast. Australia’s highest point, Kosciuszko in the Australian Alps is only about 2,000 metres high. Other mountains include the Kimberly Range, the Hamersley Range and the Flinders Range in south Australia.

Australia is very dry. In the centre of the continent there are three deserts: Great Sandy Desert, Great Victoria Desert and Simpson Desert. In fact, Great Sandy and Great Victoria Deserts are among the largest deserts in the world.

There are not so many rivers and lakes in Australia. Its best known rivers are: the Murray (2,600 km long); the Darling (the Murray’s tributary; is the longest river in Australia — 2,740 km). The largest lake is Lake Eyre.

The seasons in Australia are the other way round. Summer is from December to February (New Year is in the middle of summer), autumn is from March to May, winter is from June to August (the middle of winter is in June) and spring is from September to November.

Because of Australia’s great size there are different climatic regions here. The climate of Australia ranges from tropical in the North, to cool temperate in the south-east where it even often snows in winter.

There are such weather hardships in Australia as droughts, floods and cyclones along its coasts.

The continent suffers from the lack of fresh water. There is not much rain in many parts of the country and they are very dry. South Australia is the driest state of the driest continent on the Earth.

Перевод некоторых географических названий:

the Commonwealth of Australia — Австралийский Союз (Содружество); Australia — Австралия (страна, континент); the island of Tasmania — о. Тасмания; Cocos Islands — Кокосовые о-ва; Kangaroo Island — о. Кенгуру; the Southern Hemisphere — Южное полушарие; the Timor Sea — Тиморское море; the Arafura — Арафурское море; Gulf of Carpentaria — залив Карпентария; Torres Strait — Торресов пролив; the Tasman Sea — Тасманово море; the Corral Sea — Коралловое море; Bass Strait — Бассов пролив; Indonesia — Индонезия; East Timor Island — о. Восточный Тимор; Papua New Guinea — Папуа-Новая Гвинея; the Solomon Islands — Соломоновы о-ва; Vanuatu — Вануату (страна); New Caledonia — Новая Каледония; the Great Dividing Range — Большой Водораздельный хребет; Kosciuszco — гора Косцюшко; the Kimberly Range — горы Кимберли; the Hamersley Range — хребет Хамерсли; the Flinders Range — хребет Флиндерс; Great Sandy Desert — Большая Песчаная пустыня; Great Victoria Desert — Большая пустыня Виктория; Simpson Desert — пустыня Симпсон; the Murray — р. Муррей; the Darling — р. Дарлинг

Answer the questions:

1. What does The Commonwealth of Australia form?
2. Where is Australia located?
3. What are Australia’s neighbor countries?
4. Why is Australia “the most” country in many ways?
5. What is the total area of Australia?
6. How old is Australia?
7. What is the main mountain range and what is the highest mountain?
8. What is the climate of Australia?
9. What Australian rivers and lakes do you know?
10.  What problem does the continent have?