Australia and New Zealand

Australia is a large country lying between the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Australia is an island, like Britain, but unlike Britain, it is vast. It is, in fact, nearly twenty-five times as large as the British Isles. Its area is about 8,000,000 square km. The population of Australia is about 18 mln. Most of Australia is semi-desert. People cannot live where there is no water, and so most of people in Australia live in the richer south-east. The national holiday, Australia Day, is now celebrated on or near January 26th in memory of landing of the British in 1788. The young country grew very fast. Today Australia is an independent federative state consisting of 6 states and 2 territories. It is a member of the Commonwealth headed by the British Queen. The national language is English. The capital of Australia is Canberra; the largest cities are Sidney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. NZ is an independent state and a member of the Commonwealth, is situated southeast of Australia. The country consists of three islands: the North island, the South island and Stuart island. NZ is a mountainous country. The mountains run from southwest to northeast throughout both the larger islands. NZ's rivers are short. The climate in NZ is worm and the greater part of the country is well watered. NZ has a very few native animals. The kiwi, a bird which lives in the forest and doesn't fly, is found nowhere else in the world. The kiwi is a national emblem of NZ. The capital of NZ is Wellington. The population of NZ is over three million people. NZ is a self-governing state..

Canada

Canada is an independent federative state. It is one of the most developed countries.

Canada consists of ten provinces and two territories.

It is situated on the North American continent. In size Canada is the second in the world after Russia. Its area is almost 10 million km2.

The capital of Canada is Ottawa, which is situated on the bank of the Ottawa River. It is famous for its beautiful parks. It is also known as the city of bridges.

Canada is very rich in forest, minerals and fur-bearing animals. It holds the first place in the world in the amount of forests. It is rich in the following natural resources: non-ferrous metals, uranium, oil, natural gas, coal.

Canadian industries produce cars, airliners, locomotives, sea vessels, snow-removal machines, and agricultural equipment. The most developed industries are timber, mining, chemical, meat and milk and food industries. Canada grows wheat, barley, flax, potatoes, vegetables and fruit. Fishing is also one of the prosperous industries.

Official languages of Canada are English and French. Nearly 60 percent of the population speak English and 27 percent speak French. The rest speaks other languages, such as Eskimo, Indian, German, Ukrainian and Italian.

Canada is a founding member of the United Nations.

Shopping

When we want to buy something, we go to a shop. There are many kinds of shops in every town or city, but most of them have a food supermarket, a department store, men's and women's clothing stores, grocery, a bakery and a butchery. I like to do my shopping at big department stores and supermarkets. They sell various goods under one roof and this is very convenient. A department store, for example, is composed of many departments: readymade clothes, fabrics, shoes, sports goods, toys, glass, electric appliances, cosmetics, curtains, cameras, records, etc. You can buy everything you like there. There are also escalators in big stores which take customers to different floors. The things for sale are on the counters so that they can be easily seen. In the women's clothing department you can find dresses, costumes, blouses, skirts, coats, beautiful underwear and many other things. In the men's clothing department you can choose suits, trousers, overcoats, ties, etc. In a food supermarket we can also buy many different things at once: sausages, fish, sugar, macaroni, flour, tea. At the butcher's there is a wide choice of meat and poultry. At the bakery you buy brown and white bread, rolls, biscuits. Another shop we frequently go to is the greengrocery which is stocked by cabbage, potatoes, onions, cucumbers, carrots, green peas, etc. Everything is sold here ready-weighed and packed. If you call round at a dairy you can buy milk, cream, cheese, butter and many other products. The methods of shopping may vary. It may be a selfservice shop where the customer goes from counter to counter selecting and putting into a basket what he wishes to buy. Then he takes the basket to the check-out counter, where the prices of the purchases are added up. If it is not a self-service shop, the shop-assistant helps the customer in finding what he wants. You pay money to the cashier and he gives you back the change.