1. The Commonweaith of Austrelia is a self govering federal state. It is situated in thesouth-west of the Pasific ocean, ocuping the continent of Australia and a great number ofislands of which Tasmania is the most important. Australia is a continent-island washed bythe Indian and the Pasific Oceans.
2. The country consists of 6 (six) states and 2 (two) territories. 16 million people live inAustralia. The capital is Canberra. The offical language is English.
3. Australia has a Parlament has two chambers, the house of Representatives and theSenate. the governmant of the country is headed by the Prime Minister.
4. Australia is not only far from the rest of the world, it has a bad climet, too. The climet isbetter in the east and south-east, where most big cities have grown-up. But the northencoast has too much rain, and the westen coast is too dry.
5. The highest part of Australia, and almost all the mountains are near the coast. The wholecentral part of the country is dry; it never rains, there are no large rivers and no water there.So there is no very rich plant life in Australia, except in the east and south-east.
6. Australia is an important producer and exporter of primary products: wool, meat, sugar,fruit, black, coal, iron, copper, lead, gold and so on.
7. Most of the factories are situated near big cities. There are 5 (five) big cities inAustralia: Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and bris bane. These cities are also thecountry's main ports.
8. Canberra was specially planned as a capital. It is a quriet city. All the gover-
ment buildings are situated there. There no industrial plants in the city. About 300000
people live in Canberra.
9. Sydney is the oldest and largest city in Australia. It was founded in 1788. Sydney
is a big industrial centre. About 3 million people now live in the city.
Have you seen Jaws, the famous film about the Great White Shark? For an hour and twenty minutes of the film the shark isn’t seen except for bits and pieces and shadows underwater. But when it suddenly appears above the water for the first time, even grown-up people scream and those who have a poor heart reach for their nitroglycerine pills.
Sharks are probably the most feared of all sea animals. There are more than 350 kinds of sharks in the waters of the world. But, scientists say, only 30 species are dangerous to man. Of these 30 five species are known as especially voracious man-eaters: the Great White, the Tiger Shark, the Hammerhead, the Bull Shark, and the Whitetip Shark.
Though shark attacks are rare, they are always sudden, deadly and dramatic. Sharks live in oceans throughout the world but are usually found in warm seas. Some species, however, prefer fresh water and can be met in rivers and lakes.Sharks are remarkably successful animals. They are fast and strong. They are wonderful swimmers. They have very few parasites and are hardly ever ill. They have almost no enemies except other sharks.
Though they are undesirable animals for swimmers, water-skiers, windsurfers and divers, sharks play an important ecological role.
Unfortunately, there are many things we do not know about sharks. We do not knew how long they live and how much food they need to stay alive. There are still undiscovered species in the deep waters of the world ocean.
It’s hard to study sharks at sea, and it’s still harder to keep big sharks alive in a tank.
Some people think that, all sharks are big, but this is not true. Some kinds of sharks are no bigger than your hand. The smallest shark is about 16 centimeters long and weighs about 28 grams.Sharks swam in the sea long before dinosaurs walked the earth — more than 400 million years ago. There are no more dinosaurs left on our planet, but there are still plenty of sharks.
What makes a shark a shark? Among other features, it has a cartilaginous skeleton lighter than bone, and skin covered with tooth-like scales called denticles.
Besides the five senses that humans possess, sharks have the so called ampullae of Lorenzini, electro-receptors so sensitive that they can detect fields as weak as five-billionths of a volt per centimetre.
Different sharks have different habits. Some kinds live in the depths of the ocean and are very seldom seen. Others are found near the surface. Some species of sharks live in coastal waters, but others dwell far out at sea. A few species enter rivers and lakes. For example, Bull Sharks have been captured in the Amazon River in Brazil, in the Ganges River in India, and in the Mississippi River in the United States. Bull Sharks often feed on other sharks and have attacked swimmers.I like little shark.
