澳大利亚英文介绍分析

Australia

The basic general situation and some natural features about Australia

The geographical location

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, it's located on the southern

hemisphere, with an area ranks sixth in the world. It is the largest country among

ocean countries, but it's also the mainland of the world's smallest and the only an

exclusive one continent. It is the east Pacific Ocean, west Indian Ocean, Neighboring

countries include Indonesia, East Timor, and Papua New Guinea to the north, the

Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia to the north-east, and New Zealand to

the south-east. the major island with an area of 7.69 million square kilometers, is the

Earth’s largest island but smallest continent. It stretches about 3700 kilometers from

north to south and 4000 kilometers from east to west. In area, Australia is the 6th

largest nation after Russia, Canada,

China, the United States and Brazil. It

is about twice the size of the European

Union or the ten nations that make up

the Association of Southeast Asian

Nations (ASEAN). Its ocean

territory-the third largest in the world

—spans three oceans and covers

around 12 million square kilometers.

The country form and the population

For around 40,000 years before European settlement commenced in the late 18th

century, the Australian mainland and Tasmania were inhabited by around 250

individual nations of indigenous Australians. After sporadic(偶发的，偶见的) visits

by fishermen from the immediate north, and European discovery by Dutch explorers

in 1606,the eastern half of Australia was claimed by the British in 1770 and initially

settled through penal(与刑罚有关的) transportation to the colony of New South

Wales, founded on 26 January 1788. during the 19th century another five largely

self-governing Crown Colonies were established. On 1 January 1901, the six colonies

became a federation, and the Commonwealth of Australia was formed. Since

Federation, Australia has maintained a stable liberal democratic political system and

remains a Commonwealth realm(王国). Democratic society with a skilled workforce

and a strong, competitive economy. The responsibility for governing this vast

continent is shared between three levels of government—the federal（联邦的）

Australian Government, the governments of the six states and two territories, and

about 700 local government authorities. The population is just over 21.7 million, with

approximately 60% concentrated in and around the mainland state capitals of Sydney,

Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide. The nation's capital city is Canberra,

located in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), and the population grew steadily in

the following years. Australia has one of the most urbanized and coast-dwelling

populations in the world. More than 80 percent of Australians live within 100

kilometers of the coast of Tasmania, and numerous other islands in the Indian and

Pacific Oceans. Australia’s multicultural society includes Aboriginal and Torres Strait

Islander peoples and migrants from some 200 countries. In almost 60 years of planned

post-war migration, Australia has welcomed over 6 million migrants, including more

than 600 000 refugees. Over this time, the population has increased from about 7

million to 20 million.

Topography and Climate

Australia's terrain is quite distinctive; the average elevation is only 330 meters,

the lowest of all the continents. The western and central parts of the rugged rocky

areas, the vast desert and lush mountain, Its highest point, Mount Kosciuszko, is only

2228 meters. The lack of height is more than compensated for in landscape variety.

The giant monolith Uluru (formerly known as Ayers Rock)

in the Northern Territory and the striking beehive

mountains of Parnell (the Bungle Bungles) in Western

Australia attract visitors from every corner of the world,

as do the country’s beaches and rainforests. In the sea is

that a narrow beach gentle slope, slow ramp to the west,

gradually became plain. Coastal area is full of wide

beaches and lush vegetation, where the topography of

strange things. In the west of the City of Sydney has the

Blue Mountains of the cliffs, in the north Gela Si House Brisbane, tall mountains,

beautiful and after the erosion of the volcanic neck, while in the south coast west of

Adelaide city, is a flat plain. Murray River and Darling River is Australia's longest

two rivers. These two river systems the formation of the Murray - Darling Basin, an

area of about 100 million square kilometers, equivalent to 14% of the total area of

mainland China. Lake Eyre is near the center of the continent a great salt lake,

covering an area over 9000 square km, but the long-term status was dry. Australia is a

large island continent in the southern hemisphere with a diverse range of climate

zones. These vary from tropical regions in the north through the arid expanses of the

interior to temperate regions in the south. Seasonal fluctuations can be great with

temperatures ranging from above50℃ to below 0 ℃. Minimum temperatures are

moderated by the lack of mountains and the influence of surrounding oceans.

Australia is relatively arid, with 80% of the land having a rainfall less than 600

millimeters per year and 50% having even less than 300 millimeters. Most Australians

live near the wetter more moderate south eastern coasts primarily in major cities.

Most of Australia's land, about 70%, classified as arid or semi-arid zones, the central

most areas not suitable for habitation. Australia has 11 large deserts, which account

for about 20% of the area throughout the continent. As the rainfall is small, the

mainland for more than one-third of the area actually covered by deserts. Australia is

the world's most flat, the driest continent, the central lowland and western plateau are

dry desert climate, can make animal husbandry and farming the land, only 26 million

square kilometers. Coastal areas, particularly in the southeastern coastal zone, suitable

for residence and cultivation. Here hilly, water-rich, fertile land. In addition to the

south coast, the entire coastal strip around the continent to form a "green", it is this

"green" brought up this country. However, barren arid zones of inland buried a kind of