Give detailed answers to the following questions.

1. What’s the difference between social etiquette in Australia and most other countries around the world?

2. How may displays of wealth and the acceptance of generosity be interpreted in Australia?

3. Why can Australians seem rude to people from other countries?

4. How do people address each other?

5. What is of more importance to Australians – income or character?

6. What is Australian accent? Who speaks with it?

7. What is a round? What is its significance?

8. Who usually pays the bill at the restaurant in Australia?

9. Is there a strong sense of “mateship” in Australia? What are its roots?

10. What does taking the piss refer to?

11. What are the rules of tipping in Australia?

12. What one should bear in mind when going to a barbecue in Australia?

13. Is honesty the best policy for Australians?

14. In what cases do Australians tend to be distrustful?

15. What kind of wine should be brought by the guests for a dinner party?

16. Why do Australians always try to maintain a facade of cheerfulness?

17. Is it typical of Australians to complain about anything? What’s the difference between empathy and sympathy?

18. Who are underdogs? What is Australians’ attitude to them?

Discussion

1. Why can Australian character be considered as something unique? Explain your point of view.

2. What could have given the start for Australian egalitarianism? Give examples. Is Belarus free of class prejudice? Explain your point of view.

3. Would you like to adopt the famous policy of honesty that exists in Australia? Why? What appeals to you in Australian behavior?

4. What does siding with the underdog mean? How does it characterize the nation? Who do you usually support – the winner or the loser? Why?

5. What rules of social behaviour in Australia strike you as unusual?

Unit 6 Canada

Read the text. Study the explanatory notes. Answer the questions after the text.

Introduction

Canada is a federated country in North America, made up of ten provinces and three territories. Canada is a vast nation with a wide variety of geological formations, climates, and ecological systems. It has rain forest, prairie grassland, deciduous¹ forest, tundra, and wetlands. Canada has more lakes and inland waters than any other country. It is renowned² for its scenery, which attracts millions of tourists each year. On a per-capita³ basis, its resource endowments⁴ are the second richest in the world after Australia.

Canada is the second largest country in the world. But Canada’s population density, at 3.3 inhabitants per square kilometre, is among the lowest in the world. This is because the north of Canada, with its harsh Arctic and sub-Arctic climates, is sparsely inhabited. Most Canadians live in the southern part of the country. More than three-quarters of them live in metropolitan areas, the largest of which are Toronto, Ontario; Montréal, Québec; Vancouver, British Columbia; Ottawa, Ontario; Hull, Québec; and Edmonton, Alberta. French and English are the official languages, and at one time most Canadians were of French or English descent. However, diversity⁵ increased with a wave of immigration in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries that brought in people from many other European nations. This trend continues into the 21^st century: Canada is one of the few countries in the world that still has significant immigration programs. Since the 1970s most immigrants have come from Asia, increasing still further the diversity of the population. The most densely populated part of the country is the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor, situated in Southern Quebec and Southern Ontario along the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River.