自学考试英美国家概况441-456第二十七章

9 Urttlvlel Australia. - -----~--11-Chapter27.La d and PeopleAustralia's location is easy to find on a world map. Australia is inthe southern hemisphere - In other words it lies south of the equator.To the Europeans it is at the other end of the world. That is why Australia is popularly known in the West as49 the Land Down Un-der .It ,99Australia stretches from 10' south to 44* south of latitude and113* east to 154* east of longitude. Australia is the world'ssmallestcontinent witl- an area of 7.7 million square km. But Australia is alarge country. It is the world's sixth largest country after Russia, Canada, China, Brazil and the USA. Australia is the only continentthat contains one country. It is surrounded by the Tasman Sea andthe Pacific Ocean to the east, by the Indian Ocean to the west, bythe Coral Sea, the Arafura Sea and Timor Sea to the north, and the Southern Indian Ocean and the Great Australian Bight to the south -With a geological history of more than 3 billion years Australia isone of the oldest land masses in the world. It is the flatest and low-est of the oontinents and the only continent where people can get tothe top of''the highest mountain by car. More than 50 % of the landis under 300 m and only 5 % of the land is more than 600 m abovesea level. The average height is 330 rn. So Australia has no high .mountains. The highest point is Mount Kosciusko at 2,255 metresabove sea level.4411. The Geographical StructureThe geographical structure of Australia is fairly simple. It is gene- rally divided into three topographical regions-the Great Western Plateau, the Eastern Highlands and the great lowland belt known as the Central ]Eastern Lowlands.Traditionally, people use some imprecise terms to refer to various regions of the country. The Outback usually refers to the interior and the centre of the Western Plateau and its northern plains. The Red Centre refers to an area with red-brown and tan soils in the heart of the country.1 - The Great Western PlateauThe Western Plateau is a vast upland made of ancient rock. It.covers almost two thirds of the continent. It rises from Western Australia's coastal plains to cover almost the whole of that state, the greater part of the Northern Territory, much of South Australia and a part of Western Queensland. The land is rather flat and is only about 300 m above sea level. Much of the plateau is very dry. There are few rivers and most of them have water only during the rainy season. The interior of the plateau is made up of the Great Sandy rt, the Gibson Desert, the Great Victoria Desert and the Nullar- bor Plain.2. The Eastern HighlandsThe Eastern Highlands, better known as the Great Dividing Range, follow the eastern coast south from northern Queensland to southern Tasmania. This region is never more than 400 krn from the coast and in some places it is part of it. These highlands divide the 442eastern coast from the rest of the country.The highlands tend to be low and broad in the north and get high- er in the south - The central part sees an increasing number of table-lands, including the New England tableland and the Blue Moun-tains. The Australian Alps, the highest plateau in Australia, and the Snowy Mountains lie in the southern part. Mount Kosciusko, the highest peak in Australia, is also located there.The Great Dividing Range is Australia's main watershed. Short,swift rivers flow from the Eastern Highlands eastwards into the Pa-cific Ocean, while long inland rivers that supply water for the fertilelands flow slowly away from the coast. Off the north-eastern. coast is a 2, 000 km line of coral islands and reefs known as the Great Barrier Reef . The Murray, Australia's longest river (2, 520 km), - forms the3. The Central Eastern LowlandsThe land between the Western Plateau and the Eastern Highlandsis a great lowland known as the Central Eastern Lowlands. This re- gion starts from the Gulf of Carpentaria in the north to westernVic-toria in the south . The whole area is only about 150 m above sea level. At Lake Eyre it drops to almost 12 m below sea level. Lake Eyre is regarded as Australia's largest take, but it is known as a part-time lake. Most of the time it has no water at all. In 1974 it was filled with water, making the lake 5.7 m deep at its deepest point. But scientists have estimated that this probably happens only once every 1, 000 years.This lowland area has the country's richest farmland and best grazing land.44311 . ClimateMost Australians do not know their continent very well because they live on the cool, wet, forested south-east coastland. This is the most pleasant part of the country and the forests are unique but it is not Australia's most common environment - Two thirds of the conti- nent is hot and dry.1 - A hot continentThe hottest parts of the planet are the tropical latitudes, between 23* north and south of the equator. 39 % of Australia lies in the tropics and the rest of the continent also has a warm climate. Australia's average monthly temperatures are generally between 20*- . 30*C in summer and 10*-20'C in winter. These are higher than any other continent. In the tropics it is warm to hot all year and there is . no winter. Australia has no are-as with temperatures below zero for a . number of months. Only the highest peaks of the Snowy mountains and Victorian Highlands 6xpezience regular winter snowfall and icy conditions.2. A dry continentAustralia is a dry land. More than half of Australia receives less than 350 mm of rainfall each year. One third of Australia has less • . than 250 mm. We refer to areas receiving less than 350 mm as dry- land. So large areas of the continent are covered by drylands. The lowest annual rainfall occurs at Lake Eyre in South Australia, which has only 100 mm. Inner Western Australia also has an extremely low rainfall. The highest rainfall is on the eastern coast of Queens- land, which is 4.3 m. The Snowy Mountains and the western Tas- . manian mountains also have high rainfalls.444A rain day is one in which 0. 2 mm or more of rain is recorded. In Tasmania, southern Victoria, parts of the northern Queensland coast and in the most south-westerly parts of Western Australia there are more than 150 rain days in a year. From the north-western coast of Western Australia through to the heart of the continent there areof-ten less than 25 rain days in a year.Drought is a fact of life in Australia. There have been nine major droughts since European colonization in 1788. The worst one, which was between 1885 and 1903, affected the whole of Australia. The sheep numbers were reduced by half and cattle numbers by 40 %. Probably the second most severe drought occurred between 1958 and 1968, and other, less catastrophic, droughts occurred be- tween 1864 and 1866, 1880 and 1886, in 1888, between 1911 and1916, 1918 and 1920,1939 and 1945, and between 1982 and 1983.3. Causes and effects of the hot and dry climateAustralia is hot and dry because of the following factors: First, most of Australia lies 20*and 35*south. This is a hot, dry area of the world - Secondly, Australia has few mountains. Mountain areas have cool, wet climates but Australia has few areas like this. Thirdly, the air masses that affect Australia for most of the year are dry, sunny, high pressure cells. Finally, distance from the ocean also affects theweather. Most of Australia is far from the oceans.The climate has a great effect on vegetation - The hot dry condi- tions that are found over most of the continent are suitable for small.4plants such as grasses and shrubs rather than forests.111. Plants and AnimalsAustralia's best known plants and animals are not only adapted to445..these hot dry conditions but many are unique to the continent. Eu-calypts and wattles are drought and fire resistant and grow in poor soils. Kangaroos and emus, the largest native desert animals, can survive in hot conditions, need little moisture and can travel over long distances in search of food and water. The budgerigar, which is kept as a pet all over the world, can live in desert areas for up to 30 days without water.In Australia about half of the native animals are marsupials. Mar- supials are animals whose babies are raised in a bag of skin called a pouch on the mother's belly. Apart from kangaroos marsupials in- clude koalas, wombats, and possums. Echidnas(spiny ant-eater) andIV. People1 - PopulationIn 1787 the population of Australia consisted of about 300, 000 A-boriginal. people - Today( 1996 ) Australia's population is about 18 million or about two people to the square kilorrietre. This has more than doubled since 1945. There are now about 250,000 Aboriginal Strait Islander people about 1. 5 % of Australia's popu-and Tolation. The overwhelming majority are immigrants from over 30 countries, or their descendants. These people have come from othercountries with a different way of life, often with different lan- guag(fi, religions, dress, customs, food and sports - In recent years Australian govemments have encouraged people with different ethnic backgrounds to keep their own cultures. This policy is called multi-culturalism.Although Australians are the descendants of many nations, Great 446Britain has had the greatest influence because Australia was settled as a British colony. The Australian population is still mainly of British descent. There are many aspects of Australian way of life that are British: their language, system of government, the Australian flag, legal system, sports, family and place names and even school system( including school uniforms). Two hundred years after the ar- rival of the First Fleet, the head of the Australian government is not their Prime Minister, but the Queen of England. Although this in- fluence is declining, it is still obvious in the way of life of every Aus- tralian community - While the influence of Britain is still, consider- able, the increasing influence of other countries is obvious. The U- nited States of America is one such country and Japan is another.* . Australia is becoming a multicultural society, at least in major cities.2. Population density and distributionAustralia is one of the most urbanized countries in the world. 80% of Australians live in the suburbs of coastal cities and towns, with most of th in the narrow coastal strip between Brisbane and Adelaide - Over much of the rest of the continent the population den-sity drops below one person per square kilometre. Only 15 % of Aus-tralians live in rural areas.Why are there so few people in Australia? Why do so many people prefer to live in a coastal city or town? The main reason is an envi- ronmental one. The hot, dry environment of most of the continent contains little water and food, so it could support only small num- bers of people. That is why Australia has always been a continent with few people. The hot, dry environment has also had a great in- fluence on population distribution. Since the north and centre of thecontinent are generally hot and/or dry, 80% of Australians live in the cooler, wetter south and east. Even after many thousands of447 Iyears of Aboriginal occupation and two hundred years of European settlement, the interior is still a lonely space with few people. Lack of water, poor soils, heat and distance from the coast discourage people from living there.V. Australia's Built EnvironmentThe environment can be divided into two types. the natural andthe built. The natural envizonment consists of living and non-living features. The built environment refers to those parts of the environ- ment built by people or changed by people.1. Spmwling citiesThe populations of Australian cities are not large when compared to the big cities in other countries but Australian cities are large if we46look at the area of land they occupy. The term urban sprawl'' is used to describe -a city that has grown over a large area of land. Ur- ban sprawl occurs because most Australians prefer to live as small family units in their own homes on their own blocks of land, rather than share buildings or land in the form of flats, home units, town- houses or villas. This appears to be changing as shared buildings are becoming more popular. But today there are still 72 % of Australians who own homes. Most houses have one story of three or four rooms with a front garden and a small backyard. Nearby their houses Aus- tralians can get inexpensive facilities for tennis, cricket, golf, and lawn bowling. Many Australian cities have tree-lined streets and lovely parks. Traffic drives on the left side of the road like in Britain.Among the five cities with a population of more than one million, 448four of them (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide) are locatedon the eastern coast while one of them (Perth) is on the westerncoast -2. Rural areasAbout 17 % of Australia is used to grow crops such as wheat, oth-er grains, oilseed, cotton, rice, fruit, vegetables and sugar cane.About 60 % of the land is used for sheep and cattle grazing onlargeproperties called stations. Sheep farmers take care of thousands ofsheep. They lead fairly isolated lives. In the thinly populated out-back, they have been so successful that Australia has ranked first inthe world export of wool. Apart from crops, pastures and livestockthere are other built features such as towns, transport links, com-munication. links, power lines, dams and farm buildings. Aircraftand radio are used to help these people in the outback. Childrenlearn their lessons through a radio educational system calledSchoolof the Air. Lessons are transmitted'by radio. Homework is now ex-come by plane. They are called flying doctors.About 10% of Australia is not used and while most of this isdesert it also includes some rugged mountain areas in the south-east.The uninhabited desert areas have little- water and few minerals.. The other I 0 % of Australia is used in a number of ways. Most of this area consists of large Aboriginal Reserves in central and northernAustralia, Arnhem Land for example. A small area of the continentis used for forests or conservation purposes, for example, Royal Na-tional Park, Snowy Mountains National Park. W449.* -V1Political -Divisions6Australia is politically divided into six states and two territories -Except for -the border between New South Wales and Victoria, partof the New South Wales-Queensland border, and the borders of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), the Australian politicaldivisionborders are drawn along straight lines of latitude and longitude in-stead of along natural features. Each of the six states and twoterri-1. New South WalesNew South Wales is located in the south-east of Australia. As thefirst colony established by Britain in 1788 it is the oldest of the Aus-tralian states. That is why it is called the premier state. It is thefourth in size but it has the largest population(six million in i993).It leads the country in industry, shipping and agriculture. It has more factories than any other state. They mostly lie along the coastalplain and make everything from textiles to motorcars and from plas-tic toys to agricultural machinary. Sydney, its capital, is the largestcity in Australia with a population of 3. 6 million. It is one of thei2. VictoripVictoria is in the south-eastern comer of the mainland Australia.pastoral industries. It produces about aIt became a colony in 1851. It grew rapidly during the goldrushes ofthe 1850s. Though the smallest mainland state, Victoria has an im- portance in the country's economy far greater than its size mightin-dicate. 4.5 million people live there. Its economy is based on agricul-tural and450quarter of.Australia's rural output. It has a broadly based manufacturing indus- try and highly developed service industries. Melbourne, the capital of Victoria, is Australia's second largest city. It has a population of 3. 1 million. It is also regarded as the cultural and sports centre of Australia. Victoria has snow-capped mountains in the Australian Alps, lovely valleys and volcanic plains. It is also known as the gar-3. QueenslandThe second largest and youngest state, Queensland, occupies the tropical north-eastern corner of Australia. It is the third most popu- lous with a population of 3. 1 million. More than one million live inBrisbane, the capital. Queensland accounts for a fifth of Australia's of its exports.Queensland is also called the sunshine state because it has 7. 5 hours of sunshine daily. The sunniest in Australia is Darwin, with 8.4 hours of sunshine daily.Brisbane is the gateway to two of Australia's major tourist play-grounds, the Gold Coast and the Great Barrier Reef.4. South AnstraliaSouth Australia is the third largest state in Australia. It has a population of 1 6 million. Its agriculture is most prosperous in the fertile south-eastern comer. South Australia also has valuable miner- als . Half of the world's opals are found there. South Australia is also a leader in shipbuilding and lumbering.Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, is internationally known for its arts festival. Every other year, leaders in music, drama, and dance from many parts of the world join Australian artists for a fort-night of cultural events, including jazz, ballet and art exhibitions-.451 - -5. Western AustraliaWestern Australia is the biggest Australian state, accounting for one third of the total area of the country, but its population (about1. 5 million) is only 9 % of the country's population. Western Aus- tralia is also known as the state oL excitement. Western Australia has enormous mineral wealth and accounts for about a quarter of the national income through its mineral exports. Perth, the capital city of Western Australia, has more than half the population in the state. Situated on the estuary of the Swan River, Perth is a beauti- ful city with a perfect climate.6. Tia Tasmania is the smallest of the Australian states. It is an island lying south of the south-eastem corner of the Australian mainland . It is the second oldest of the Australian states with a population of about half a million. Tasmania is often called the holiday isle. It of-fers some of the most beautiful scenic attractions in Australia. The Tasmanian Wilderness which consists of the Cradle Mountain-Lake, j ~. tional. Pai~k and the Southwest National Park is on the World Her- .1itage List. Flobkrt is the capital city of Tasmania. It is a beautiful modern city located at the foot of Mount Wellington, which is often snow-capped. It has a deep harbour and a big casino.7. Northern TerritoryThe Northern Territory covers nearly a fifth of the continent. It is more than twice the size of France and as far from north to south as New York to Miami. Most of it is in the tropics. It is sparsely populated with a little more than 160, 000 people, about half of whom live in Darwin, the capital. Cattle-raising is the main indus- . try in this region. Some of the cattle stations are as large as some of452..I - -_ _ _ ____ __ - - ... ..- ..- - --- ....-the smaller states of the United States. The Territory is also rich inmineral resources.The southern area of the Northern Territory is the famous RedCentre of Australia. It consists of miles and mites of red-sanddesertand mountain ranges. Uluru(it used to be called Ayers Rock) hasprobably Australia's best known national park and the rock itselfprobably attracts more overseas visitors than any other nationalscenic feature in Australia.Darwin is the only large city on the entire northern coast of Aus-tralia. The city is like a frontier town and often serves as the place ofentrance and exit for people who come to visit the area.8. Australian Capital TerritoryShortly after the Australian colonies joined together to form a fed-eration in 1901, it was decided that the new nation should have anew seat of government. So the Australian Capital Territory(ACT), an area of 2, 333 square km, was mapped out of the state ofNew South Wales to be the site of the national capital.itCanburry''97is an Aboriginal word for "meeting place and from it came the nameof the capital, Canberra. Today it is a meeting place for the nationand for many international conferences. It has a population of300, 000. Canberra is also called the garden city because of its beau-tiful layout --. 9 a OFI .ribe briefly the geographical location of Australia.2. What are the geographical features of Australia as a continent?4531 3. Identify the three topographical regions into which Australia is divided.What are the general characteristics of each region?4.ribe Australia's climate.IWhat are the causes and effects of such a climate?5. What are the most common plants and animals in Australia?6. Why is Australia known as a multicultural society?7. Why are there so few people in Australia? Why do so many people prefer tolive in a coastal city or town?8. What is ''urban sprawl'" ribe Australia's built environment.9. How is Australia politically divided?10.ribe, some of the characteristics of at least two regions.I.454。