Write down your own sentences with these words.

II. Scan the text and decide whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F):

1. Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is the country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Ceylon, and numerous smaller islands.

2. Legends of Terra Australis Incognita—an "unknown land of the East"—date back to Roman times and were commonplace in medieval geography, although not based on any documented knowledge of the continent.

3. In 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as Australia. Since its days as a British colony Australia has developed a complex national culture with immigrants from many parts of the world as well as an indigenous Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population.

4. For much of the nation’s history, there has been a focus on assimilating different cultural groups into the dominant British Australian traditions; however, in the early 1970s a more pluralist policy of multiculturalism came to prominence.

5. ‘‘Aussie’’ is a colloquialism that was used during World War I to refer to Australian-born people of British or Irish ancestry. Initially used to describe a hard working character capable of battling through hard times, the term was employed after World War II to distinguish those born domestically from ‘‘new’’ immigrants from western and southern Europe.

6. The Australian National Flag was first flown on September 3, 1901 over the Royal Exchange Building in Melbourne. The date is still celebrated as ‘Australian National Flag Day’. Today, the National Flag is a symbol of the Australian identity and serves as an important part of almost all our national events.

7. Australia’s current Coat of Arms was granted by King George I in September of 1912 and is the second Commonwealth Coat of Arms.

8. The shield at the centre of the coat of arms is a symbol for the federation of the states and it depicts the badges of the nine Australian states enclosed by an ermine border.

9. Australia's national colours, green and yellow, were popular and well loved by Australians long before they were officially proclaimed by the Governor-General on 19 April 1984.

10. Prior to proclamation, Australia had no official colours and different combinations vied for the honour: red, white and blue; blue and gold; and green and gold.

11. Australia’s national floral emblem is the yellow wattle (Acacia pycnantha Benth.). It encapsulates the spirit of the Australian bush.

12. National Wattle Day is the first day of September and was introduced in 1913 by an association called the Wattle Day League and formally recognized on 23 June 1992. Australians can celebrate Wattle Day by planting wattles and wearing the wattle blossom on September 1st.

13. Forward Australia Fair was one of many Australian nationalistic songs written in the late-nineteenth century as debates about the creation of the new nation were taking place in the different colonies.

14. In 1984 the government announced that the tune of Forward Australia Fair together with modifications to two verses of the lyrics would become the Australian National Anthem.

15. In Aboriginal legend, the mesmerizing pearl was a gift from the sky, from a rainbow that had touched the earth and created the colours of the opal.

III. Read the text about the slouch hat. Choose the phrase from A to K to fill in the gaps. There is one phrase that you won’t need to use:

The Slouch Hat

Since its inception more than a century ago, the slouch hat has become 1 ____________and defining items of Australian clothing. It is made with rabbit-fur or wool felt and 2 __________the brim pinned to the side. It has been suggested the pinning made it easier 3 ________over the soldier. While that may 4 _______, other countries never felt 5 _______one side of their hats to the side in order to sling a rifle over the shoulder. Although the need to sling a rifle over a shoulder 6 _____to Australia, no other countries decided to have their soldiers wearing the hat in such a way.

Perhaps the Australian soldiers 7_____because they put pragmatism over style. Alternatively, military commanders might have encouraged the hat to be pinned because it distinguished Australian soldiers 8_____ in British allied forces. It helped to build a unique social identity of the Australian soldiers, which was good for morale.

In addition to the pinning, the slouch hat 9 _____ via the addition of native bird feathers. Emu plumes were often 10 _____ or to again signal some kind of Australian characteristic.

A) was definitely not unique

B) from other soldiers

C) has one side of

D) added for decoration

E) the need to pin

F) to sling a rifle

G) raised the hat

H) one of the most distinctive

I) gained uniqueness

J) pinned the hat

K) have been the case

Date: 2016-03-03; view: 1278