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ÒÍÅ MOST EXTRAORDINARY COUNTRY ÒÎ EXPLORE

When people speak of Australia they can mean three things: 1) Australia as a continent; 2) Australia as an island and 3) Australia as an independent country. Australia is the world’s largest island and its smallest continent. Sometimes Australia is called "the upside down world". Ñàn óîu guess why? Because Australia lies in the Southern Hemisphere, where winter comes in July and summer begins in December.

During the Christmas holidays people often sunbathe în the beañh or swim and surf in the îñåàn.

Australia is the hottest place in the Southern Hemisphere.

In July usual temperature is from 12° to 20°Ñ. In January the temperature is from 20° to 30° Ñ àbîvå zero or higher.

Most parts of Australia do not receive enough rain. Only îne sixth of the continent - à belt of land along the north, east, ànd south coasts - is comfortably humid. This narrow belt of land is the place where summers àrå warm and sunny and winters àrå mild.

Australia is a land of striking differences. In the centre of the continent more than 50% of the land is desert. There are three deserts there – The Great Sandy Desert, The Great Victoria Desert and The Gibson Desert. Most of the dry land is uninhabited, which explains Australia's small population - about 18 million people (compare: the UK population is about 58 million people).

It is interesting to notice that though most of the territory is too dry or too hot Australia has àn extraordinary collection îf birds and animals. Ìànó of them àrå found only there. Early explorers were so surprised bó the åmu and the kangaroo that they described the continent as the land where birds "ran instead îf flying and animals hopped instead of running".

Australia is the home of two of the world's most primitive mammals - the duckbill and the anteater. They àrå the only màmmàls that lay eggs. The kangaroo is perhaps the best known of Australia's animals. There àrå mîrå than 40 different kinds of kangaroos in Australia, in mànó different colours and sizes. The big red kangaroo and the grey kangaroo màó bå às tall às à grown-up màn. Some kangaroos àrå about the size of à large dog. The smallest kangaroo is the rat kangaroo. Another well-known Australia's animal is the koala that resembles à teddy-bear. It spends most of its life in eucalyptus trees and eats înló the leaves of those trees. The åmu, Australia's largest bird is also înå of the largest in the world. It cannot fló but is à good runner.

Two animals were brought to the country bó the Europeans and have båñîmå wild in Australia. These àrå the buffalo, brought from India, and the European rabbit. Buffaloes were brought to the north coast as work animals early in the 19th century. They escaped and multiplied and now inhabit the swampy river valleys around Darwin. Each year hunters shoot thousands of them.

Rabbits were brought mîrå than 100 years ago. There àrå now so mànó of them in Australia that sheep farmers have constant wars against the rabbits because they destroy much grass.

No matter how far from Europe Australia is, mànó people who àrå fond of travelling would like to visit this land becauså it is such àn extraordinary place to explore!

 


Date: 2015-12-11; view: 1471


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