Текст 9(a). Australia

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Текст 8(c). Canadian English

The English language was brought to Canada by English-speaking loyalists¹ (settlers) from revolting American colonies. They formed the original population of Ontario and New Brunswick. In Canada English had to work its way through a thick accent, which might be Ukrainian, German, Estonian, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, or Czech. The most surprising thing about the English currently used in Canada is its homogeneity. Regional differences exist, but they are subtle. Anyone wishing to know what Canadian English is like when purged of individual peculiarities and accidentals would be well advised to listen to the best C. B. C. (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation²) announcers and to C. B. C. Drama. These offer something which is not a copy of British English; nor yet of American English.

¹ – Лоялисты, противники отделения Сев. Америки от Англии, поселились в Канаде, которая считалась Британской территорией.

² – Канадская радиовещательная корпорация.

Do you know it?

Do you know that in 1854 Ottawa was chosen as the seat of government because it was more than a hundred miles from boundary. A second reason for the selection was that Ottawa stood at the crossroads of French and English-speaking Canada. Montreal is the largest and most important city in Canada of more than a million people. One of the oldest Canadian universities – the McGill University is housed in a group of buildings at the base of Mount Royal.

The second city in Canada is Toronto. It is an important educational centre. There is the University of Toronto with its colleges: Victoria College, Trinity College and St Michael’s College.

Three transcontinental railways connect the eastern cities with the Pacific coast and with such important ports as Vancouver, Victoria, Prince Rupert. Vancouver is famous for its harbour among high Rocky Mountains.

An island the size of Europe, which knows every type of climate and almost every kind of foliage. Its birds and animals are strange. Its gaunt, mountains, its red desert, its lonely bush country seem older than history. Terra australis the sea explorers from the Old World call it. Its dark-skinned aboriginal inhabitants hunted and ate the Kangaroos, the Koala bears, the exotic birds. They dreamed their dreams, told their tales around the campfires and lived the Stone Age existence. An unfulfilled land, waiting its destiny. In 1788 there came to this country twelve hundred English convicts and guards who arrived to form the colony of Port Jackson (now Sydney). The deportation of convicts to Australia continued for the following half-century. New settlements were set up along the east and south coasts. The population rose rapidly during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. These descendants of convicts are the present-day Australians of popular imagination.

The “new Australians” came from Central Europe, from Great Britain and the sudden influx of such large numbers of people with different ideas and different customs had its effect upon Australian’s former amused intolerance of things un’Australian. The “old” Australian has to adapt himself to the behaviour of his colleagues, instead of waiting for the newcomers to assimilate the Australian way of life.

Population of Australia

The total population of Australia is 14.070.000. These figures are exclusive of full-blood Aborigines. There were about 47.000 of them in 1947. Before European settlement the aborigine population of Australia may have been from 150.000 to 350.000. Immigrants of Germany, Italy, Greece, Russia and Great Britain live in Australia.

Capital

Canberra is Australia’s National Capital. The most important public building is Parliament House, containing two Chambers for the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Australian National University was founded in 1946 and is devoted to research in physical sciences, medicine, social sciences and Pacific studies. Other notable buildings are the Commonwealth National Library; the home of the Governor general; the School of Forestry; the Australian Institute of Anatomy; the Commonwealth Observatory and Australian War Memorial.

Constitution of Australia

The Commonwealth of Australia came into existence on the 1^st of January 1901 by virtue of an Act of the Imperial Parliament having as its short title the “Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act”. Before this date, New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania were Separate self-governing colonies-afterwards these colonies became States of the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth Parliament consist of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

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