Discussion

1. How do national symbols of Canada characterize Canadians as a nation? Explain your point of view?

2. What questions would you ask a Canadian if you had a chance?

3. In what way are Canadians similar to (or different from) the people of Belarus? Explain your point of view.

4. Is Canada more British or French? What makes you think so? Do you think that Quebec will leave Canada one day? Why? How could it affect the country?

5. What rules of social behavior in Canada strike you as unusual? Why?

Unit 8 South Africa

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

Introduction

South Africa, southernmost country in Africa, bordered on the north by Namibia [nə'mɪbɪə], Botswana [bɔ'tswɑ:nə], Zimbabwe [zɪm'bɑ:bwɪ], Mozambique [ֽməuzæm'bi:k], and Swaziland ['swɑ:zɪlænd]; on the east and south by the Indian Ocean; and on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Lesotho [lə'su:tu:], forms an enclave¹ in the northeastern part of the country.

South Africa has a diverse and dramatic landscape. Most of the interior is covered by high plateaus², which are separated from the country’s long coastline by chains of tall mountains. South Africa is rich in minerals such as gold and diamonds, and its industrial base grew up around the mining industry.

Black Africans comprise three quarters of South Africa’s population, and whites, Coloureds (people of mixed race), and Asians (mainly Indians) make up the remainder. Among the black population there are numerous ethnic groups and 11 official languages. Until recently, whites dominated the nonwhite majority population under the political system of racial segregation³ known as apartheid. Apartheid ended in the early 1990s, but South Africa is still recovering from the racial inequalities in political power, opportunity, and lifestyle. The end of apartheid led to the lifting of trade sanctions against South Africa imposed by the international community. It also led to a total reorganization of the government, which since 1994 has been a nonracial democracy based on majority rule.

South Africa is divided into nine provinces. These provinces are Gauteng, Northern Province, Mpumalanga, North-West Province, Free State, Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, Western Cape, and KwaZulu-Natal. The country has three capitals: Cape Town is the legislative capital; Pretoria [prɪ'tɔ:rɪə], the executive⁴ capital; and Bloemfontein ['blu:mfən'teɪn], the judicial⁵ capital.

Climate

South Africa enjoys a generally warm, temperate climate. Most of the country experiences light rainfall and long hours of sunshine. Rainfall is typically unpredictable. Prolonged droughts⁶ often end with severe floods.

There is a striking difference between temperatures on the east and west coasts. The east coast is influenced by the warm Agulhas [ə'gʌləs] Current and the west coast by the cold Benguela Current. Average temperature ranges in January are 21° to 27°C in Durban, 14° to 26° in Johannesburg [ʤəu'hænɪsbɜ:g], and 12° to 34°C in Cape Town. In July the temperature ranges are 11° to 22°C in Durban, 4° to 17°C in Johannesburg, and 4° to 24°C in Cape Town. Snow is rare except in the higher parts of the Drakensberg, but winter frosts occur on the higher parts of the plateau.

People

The population of South Africa is about 80% black (African) and 10% white (European), with about 9% people of mixed white and black descent (formerly called ‘Coloured’), and a small minority of South and East Asian background. Although these ethnic divisions were rigidly enforced under the policy of apartheid, racial distinctions are often arbitrary⁷. People of African descent fall into several groups, based on their first language.

South Africa has 11 official languages, nine of which are indigenous (Zulu, Xhosa and others). Many blacks also speak Afrikaans⁸ (the first language of about 60% of the whites and the majority of those of mixed race) or English (the first language of most of the rest of the nonblacks). Afrikaans originates from the 17^th century Dutch dialects spoken by the mainly-Dutch settlers of what is now South Africa, where it began to develop independently. Hence, historically, it is a daughter language of Dutch. About 80% of the population is Christian; major groups include the Zionist, Pentecostal, Roman Catholic, Methodist, Dutch Reformed, and Anglican churches. There are small minorities of Muslims, Hindus, Jews, and followers of traditional African religions.