Пособие состоит из 16 уроков и трех дополнительных разделов. Каждый урок рассчитан на работу в течение 4-5 часов аудиторных занятий

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16.3 Read and translate this text 
Australia and Oceania 
 
Scattered across the Pacific Ocean are thousands of islands. They range in size 
from Australia to tiny islands, so small that no one has ever lived on them. Years ago 
a European geographer thought that he needed a single name for this region. He 
decided that since the region was located “in the Great Ocean”, he would call it 
Oceania. Because Oceania is so vast, another geographer divided it into four parts: 
Australia, Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia. Australia means “southern island” 
in Latin. The other three names come from Greek. Polynesia means “many islands”, 
and Micronesia means “small islands”; and Melanesia, “black islands”, so-called 
because of the dark-skinned people who live there. Geologically all the islands are of 
three types: continental islands, volcanic islands and coral islands. 
Australia, the smallest continent and one of the largest countries on Earth, lies 
between the Pacific and Indian oceans in Southern Hemisphere. The continent is 
bounded by latitudes 10
0
and 44
0
S and by longitudes 112
0
and 154
0
E. Australia is 
separated from Indonesia by the Timor and the Arafura seas; from Papua New 
Guinea by the Torres Strait; from the Coral Sea Islands Territory by the Great Barrier 
Reef; from New Zealand by the Tasman Sea and from Antarctica by the Indian 
Ocean. The territory of Australia (including Tasmania) is about eight million square 
kilometers. The western part of Australia forms a plateau which occupies half of the 
continent. The Central Lowlands, a great part of which is very dry, lie between the 
Western Australian plateau and Eastern Highlands. Through the eastern part of these 
central Lowlands run Australia’s greatest rivers, the Murray and the Darling. 
Australia has several different climatic regions, from warm to subtropical and 
tropical. The climate in the west is very dry and more than half of Australia gets very 
little rain. There are two hot deserts in the central and western parts of the continent. 
Tropical forests are situated in the north-east because the winds from the sea bring 
heavy rainfalls. The tropical forests are displaced by savanna or grassland. In the 
south-east and on the sides of the mountains there are forests of eucalyptus and other 
ever-green trees. 
The native animals of Australia include some of the strangest mammal on the 
earth, such as the kangaroo, koala, wombat and Tasmanian devil, all of which carry 
their young in stomach pouches. Australia’s bird life includes a great variety of 
parrots, the lyrebirds, with its unusual plumage, the brush turkey, and other 
interesting species. 
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is the federal state within 
the Commonwealth of Nations. Formally the head of the state is the King or Queen of 
England represented by the Governor-General. The Commonwealth of Australia 
consists of six states and two territories: New South Walles (the capital is Sydney), 
Victoria (Melbourne), Queensland (Brisbane), South Australia (Adelaide), Western 
Australia (Perth), Tasmania (Hobart), Northern Territory (Darwin), Australian 
Capital Territory (Canberra). 

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16.4 Find these Pacific Islands on the map and name the capitals of the countries 
American Samoa (United States), Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Fresh Polynesia 
(France), Guam (United States), Kiribati, Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New 
Caledonia (France), New Zealand, Northern Mariana Islands (United States), Palau, 
Papua New Guinea, Pitcairn Islands (United Kingdom), Samoa, Solomon Islands, 
Tokelan (New Zealand), Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna (France). 
16.5 Say whether the following statements are true or false 
1. Thousands of islands scattered across the Pacific Ocean were called Oceania. 
2. New Zealand is the largest island among the Pacific Islands. 
3. Australia has three dominant landforms: the highlands, the lowlands and the 
plateaus. 
4. Central and western parts of the continent are characterized by abundant rainfall. 
5. Eucalyptus and other ever-green trees are predominant forest types in the south-
east and on the sides of mountains. 
6. Australia has animals and plants found nowhere else. 
7. Australia is an independent federative state within the Commonwealth of Nations 
headed by the British Queen. 
16.6 Complete the following sentences 
1. Oceania is divided into ………. . 
2. Melanesia is called “black islands” because of ………. . 
3. Geologists describe the Pacific Islands as ………. . 
4. Australia is bounded by ………. . 
5. Australia (including Tasmania) has an area about ………. . 
6. The Central Lowlands are located ………. . 
7. Tropical forests are situated in the north-east of the continent because ………. . 
8. Flora and fauna of Australia include ………. . 
9. The Commonwealth of Australia consists of ………. . 
16.7 Read the texts and reproduce them in the form of a dialogue 
*** 
Hundreds of years ago there were stories about a large continent in the Southern 
Hemisphere. But no one could say what it was like and whether it was inhabited. 
People called this land “terra australis incognita” or “the unknown southern land”. 
The Dutch were the first Europeans to visit Australia. They discovered it while 
making their journeys to the island of Java, a Dutch colony in Southeast Asia. When 
the Dutch found themselves on the west of Australia they gave the name New 
Holland to this western part of the continent. In 1770, the English captain James 

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Cook discovered the cast coast of Australia. In 1788, the first English settlement was 
established at Port Jackson, the site of the present city of Sydney. 
*** 
The brown-skinned Aborigines of Australia, of whom about 50,000 pure-
blooded representatives and about 150,000 mixed bloods, are an ancient people with 
a rich cultural inheritance. This race has existed for 25,000 years. During this time the 
Aborigines established a life style that is very different from European culture. The 
Aboriginal people did not practise agriculture or keep domestic animals other than 
the dog. Natives supported themselves by hunting, gathering and fishing. When 
European settlers arrived and started grabbing lands from them, the Aborigines were 
doomed to starvation. Like the American Indians, Australia’s Aborigines are 
strangers in their own land. 
*** 
Australia ranks among the world’s top ten gold producers. The continent has 
very large iron deposits. Steel mills in Japan and South Korea depend on Australian 
mines for iron ore. Australia also leads the world in mining bauxite, while Australian 
oil fields produce only about two-thirds of what the country needs. The rest is 
imported. Today, manufactured goods account for 25 per cent of Australia’s gross 
national exports. The largest manufacturing industries are those that make steel, 
automobiles, machinery, chemicals, and electronic equipment. 
*** 
Ecologists call the Great Barrier Reef one of the seven natural wonders of the 
world. Biologists classify it as the largest living organism on earth. Geographers 
describe it as the largest coral reef in the world. This vast coral reef forms an almost 
continuous wall off the eastern shore of Australia, from the Torres Strait to the Tropic 
of Capricon. The reef received the name “barrier reef” because it forms a barrier 
between the water of the open ocean and the water near the shore. The multi-hued 
structure is made of billions and billions of coral polyps, tiny animals that live in 
warm tropical water. The underwater world of coral provides shelter for an 
unbelievable diversity of marine life, including starfish, sea urchins, lobsters, and 
millions of fish. 
*** 
Speaking of Australia and neighboring islands don’t forget than the seasons are 
the opposite way round in that part of the world. December to February is summer; 
March to May, autumn; June to August, winter, and September to November, spring. 
Due to the general changeableness of the weather at all times and the predominance 
in almost any landscape of ever-green trees and bush, you will find the change of 
seasons far less noticeable than in Britain. And when it is midnight in Britain, it will 
be exactly midday of the following day. 

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16.8 Answer the following questions 
What part of the world do we call Oceania? 
Why is it called Oceania? 
Of how many parts does Oceania consist? 
Explain the origin of the Pacific Islands. 
Where does Australia lie? 
How is Australia separated from neighboring islands? 
Where are the Central Lowlands situated? 
What climatic regions are found in Australia? 
What is the state system of Australia? 
16.9 Text for written translation 
While Australia is one of the most sparsely populated countries of the world, 
two of its cities Sydney and Melbourne, runk among the fourty largest in the world. 
The density of population, though rising, is still only five persons per square mile; 
only Canada has a comparably low figure. About 58% of the population lives in the 
six state capitals – Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Hobard. Apart 
from this cities and the federal capital of Canberra there are less than two dozen cities 
with a population of more than 20,000. Country towns are usually small, with 
populations between 5,000 and 10,000. Some have small secondary industries, but 
most exist merely as centres to serve the surrounding districts. Canberra, the capital 
city of Australia is situated in the south-east of the continent. When the federal 
government was created, Melbourne and Sydney viewed for the honour of becoming 
the capital of a new nation. Neither city wanted the other to become the permanent 
capital. So a new capital city was built at Canberra, halfway between Melbourne and 
Sydney. Canberra is situated on the Molonglo River, a tributary of the Marumbidgee 
River. The plains surrounding Canberra are used chiefly for sheep raising, wheat and 
corn growing, dairying, fruit growing. Canberra as a capital of the country, is the seat 
of Parliament and the other branches of government. Some 30 embassies, legations, 
and offices of high commissioners give the city an international flavour. The broad 
avenues and residential streets are lined with trees, and Canberra is often called the 
Garden City of Australia. 
16.10 Make up all possible types of questions to the text 16.9 
16.11 Speak on: 
1. Oceania
2. geographical position of Australia
3. landforms and climate 
4. flora and fauna 
5. cities of Australia
16.12 Get ready to speak about any Pacific Islands you like (See lesson 10, ex. 10.12) 

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