Going places: Australia

Read and translate the text and put three questions to it:

Australia is the fifth and smallest of the continents, three-quar­ters the size of Europe, a quarter the size of Africa and a sixth the size of Asia or the Americas. On the other hand, it is by far the larg­est island in the world, with a coastline of 12,200 miles and an over­all area of almost three million square miles, which makes it slight­ly smaller than the United States and about twenty-four times the size of the British Isles.

Geologically, Australia dates back at least 2,000 million years, and the poet who described it as «a land as old as time» was not far wrong. Some people believe it was once part of the Antarctic conti­nent. There is also a theory that until a few million years ago it was part of a great land which reached north to Asia and east as far as New Zealand remains indicate that at one time Australia was inhab­ited by giant land fauna, for example kangaroos and emus up to three times their present size, and lizards up to twenty feet long. The coun­try's vegetation in those days was very much as it is now.

In its present shape, which will no doubt change greatly in the next few million years, more than a third of Australia lies within the tropics. Cape York, its northern tip, is in more or less the same latitude as the far south of India and the central islands of the Phil­ippines. The southern tip of Tasmania has the same latitude as Port­land (Maine), the Black Sea and Vladivostok. Because of this there is much variety in physical character and climate. It is a rather flat country with not very high mountain ranges near the eastern coast. The highest peak, Mount Kosciusko, reaches only 7,316 feet, a quar­ter of the height of Mount Everest. Much of the country's interior is almost rainless, and as a result, most of the people live on the east and south-east coasts. Large cities such as Sydney and Melbourne are crowded with people but the average number of inhabitants to the square mile in Australia is only four.

Read and translate the text and answer the questions Globetrotter

Jonathan talks about all the places he has lived.

Jeff: So, Jonathan, what is home for you? Where is home for you?

Jonathan: Where is home for me? Actually, I would have to say that I'm homeless.

Jeff: Homeless! What do you mean homeless?

Jonathan: Well, I don't call one particular place home. I pretty much live out of a suitcase. I don't have roots holding me to one particular place. I was born and raised in Toronto but from a very young age I was traveling for different purposes: some for the work that I was doing, some for just pleasure travel and even now when I go back to Toronto, it doesn't really feel like home. In fact people comment about my accent, and they say, "Oh, that's an interesting accent. Where you are from?" and I say, "Well, I'm from here."

Jeff: So where do you split most of the majority of your time? Where's your base?

Jonathan: Well, I don't really have a base. That's the thing. I spend about four, sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less, months in Japan and I usually visit my parents for about a month a year, sometimes in Canada where they spend spring, summer and early autumn, and sometimes in this small little town in Mexico that they like to go to avoid the harsh winter in Canada.

Jeff: So, you and... in between those times, in between Mexico, in between Canada, in between Japan, where are you?

Jonathan: Wherever I sort of feel like going. Now I don't draw the kind of salary that allows me to live a glamorous lifestyle and travel around the world with the jet set, but I can certainly go and spend several months a year in different destinations, living a very basic existence but having enough time to be able to travel around and stay in simple accommodation, go out and hit the bars at night, talk to the people I meet in those different areas. At different times, I have different interests.

Jeff: So that sounds like a pretty exciting, pretty fun life. Do you ever get tired of it?

Jonathan: I think that it's the kind of life that doesn't appeal to everyone and some people think I have this wonderful, fantastic life all the time. Sometimes, I would like to work a little bit more. Sometimes, I think, "Oh, no! I have nothing to do for the next three months."

Jeff: Except for travel.

Jonathan: Yes. And as of now, this work that I'm about to do finishes in a couple of days and people have asked me, where am I going afterwards and my honest answer is I don't know. I literally have no idea where I'm going to be four or five days

from now, and I have no idea what I'll be doing for the next three months until I need to be back in Japan for work three months from now.

Jeff: Well, good luck on your next trip.