Reálie Austrálie - zpracované maturitní otázky z angličtiny

Reálie Austrálie (zpracovaná otázka pro maturitní zkoušku z angličtiny nebo pro základní státní jazykovou zkoušku z angličtiny).

AUSTRALIA

• Is the Earth’s smallest continent (it covers the area of about 7,687, 000 km) lying in the southern hemisphere between the Indian and Pacific Oceans
• and it is also the flattest (nejplošší) and youngest of all continents

HISTORY

• Australia was discovered by Portuguese, Spanish and Dutch navigators, but prior (před) to the arrival of the Europeans, dark-skinned people were living there, we call them aborigines, however they did not originate (vzniknout) there – they came here from Asia about 40,000 years ago; they were divided into approximately 650 tribes, each tribe usually has its own dialect and customs
• The discovery of gold in the middle of the 19tcentury attracted many immigrants and the population increased rapidly

GEOGRAPHY

• It’s about as large (skoro stejně velká) as the USA, but vast areas, especially in the interior and in the tropical north are completely uninhabited (neobydlený), the population is concentrated on the coast
• The western part of Australia is a flat plateau (plošina) – the Great Western Plateau
• In the east there is a chain of highlands known as the Eastern highlands or Great Diving Range, then there is an area known as the Australian Alps, there are the highest in the Southern Part and there is also the highest peak of the continent – Mt. Kosciusko (2,230 m), the Australian Alps are covers (pokryté) in snow even during the summer
• Between the Great Western Plateau and the Great Diving Range there are low-lying (nízko položené) plains known as the Central-Eastern Lowlands

RIVERS AND LAKES

• The largest river is the Murray (1,600 km long), whit its tributaries (přítoky) the Darling, the Murrumbidgee and the Lachlan
• Most Autralian rivers are small creeks (potoky) when there is not enough rain (když není dost deště)
• In Australia there are about 760 lakes, the largest of them is Lake Eyre

CLIMATE AND WEATHER

• Australia is situated in the Southern hemisphere, this means that the seasons are opposite to those in the Northern hemisphere
• The Northern part of the continent lies in the tropical climate zone, the rest of the continent in the sub-tropical or temperate zone, but there are great differences between individual regions, depending on the distance from the coast (pobřeží) and on the altitude (nadmořská výška)
• There are areas in Australia where it doesn?t rain for years at a time (kde někdy neprší po celé roky)
• A is often visited by hurricanes

POLITICAL SYSTEM

• A is a dominion (samosprávná kolonie) of the United Kingdom
• The official head of the state is Elizabeth II in Australia represented by the Governor General
• The Commonwealth of Australia us a federation of six states – New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania and three territories – the Northern Territory, Coral Sea Islands Territory and Australian Capital Territory
• There is a Federal Government for the whole of Australia and each state has its own government and institutions (so it’s similar to the American pattern)
• The Federal Parliament consists of two Houses: the Senate (64 senators altogether) and the House of Representatives (elected from each state in proportion to population (jejich počet tedy záleží na počet obyvatel v každém státě)

FAUNA AND FLORA

• Kangaroo, koala, bear, dingo, wombat, platypus (ptakopysk)

AGRICULTURE

• Sheep-raising is the most important branch of Australian economy; A is the greatest producer of wool in the world
• Cattle-raising (pěstování dobytka)
• Crop production (obilí) – wheat (pšenice), barley (ječmen), oats (oves), maize (kukuřice

INDUSTRY

• Mining (těžba) – iron, coal and bauxite
• The food industry
• Textile industry
• Motor vehicles

CAPITAL

• = Canberra
•  It’s also Australia’s largest city, the city ?s design was largely influenced by the Garden City movement
• It’s the seat of Parliament House and home to many national monuments such as the Australian War Memorial, National Museum of Australia and National Botanic Garden and many others

PLACES OF INTEREST

• Sydney – the oldest city of A is famous for its Sydney Opera house that looks like a ship
• Uluru – the highest monolith in the world, it’s situated in the middle of the dessert and now it’s owned by the Aboriginals
• Melbourne – one of the most beautiful cities
• Perth –  an important industrial city