Australia is nearly 7.7 million square kilometres.Itˈs the sixth largest country in area after Russia，Canada，China，the United States and Brazil.

There are rainforests and large plains in the north，snowfields in the southeast，desert(沙漠) in the centre and croplands in the east，south and southwest.About one third of the country lies in the tropics(热带地区)．Australia has a coastline of 36，735 km if it were possible to drive non－stop along the whole coast at 60 km/h，it would take about 24 days to complete the trip.

Australia is the worldˈs smallest continent(洲) and the sixth largest country being equal(相等的) in area to the USA without Alaska.The continent is one of the oldest lands.It is more than 3，000 million years old，and it is the flattest of the continents.

The population of Australia is more than 20 million.It is one of the worldˈs most urbanized countries，with about 70% of the population living in the ten largest cities.Most of the population is concentrated(集中) along the eastern seaboard and the southeastern corner of the continent.

It may be hard to believe, but the American Revolution(革命)—the war that freed the American states from British control—began over a cup of tea. Tea was not the only thing that caused the war, of course, but it played a very big part.

The British people’s love of tea is well-known. When the British won control over mush of North America in the early 1700s, they brought their tea- drinking habits with them. Tea quickly became the continents most popular drink. As tea could not be grown locally, just as in Britain, it was shipped into the country—mostly from India.

In the early 1700s, the Britain government made a special deal with the East India Company, as an English trading company. They agreed that no other company was allowed to bring tea to Britain or any country controlled by Britain, including America. It was a great deal for the East India Company, since it meant that the company could decide whatever price it wanted for its products. And it always decided on a high price!

In North America, the local people did not like having to pay such high prices. Instead od overpaying for tea from the British, they turned to Dutch traders, who secretly brought tea to the country that was just as good—and much less expensive. Although this broke the law, the American people didn’t care. They got the same cup of tea at a much lower price.

The East India Company, however, didn’t like this at all. By the 1760s, they were losing millions of pounds each year to Dutch traders—a huge amount of money in a time when￡60 a year was considered a good income. Instead of reducing their prices to compete with the Dutch, the company asked the British government for help and the government agreed.

In 1767, the British introduced new law that increased the prices of all goods which were brought into America. These laws helped make the East India Company even richer and forced local people to pay much more for everything. The American leaders asked the British government not to do so, but the British refused to listen. These unfair laws increased Americans’ anger about British rule and the rest, as they say, is history.

C

You may know the English letters A, B and C. But do you know there are people called ABCs? Do you know there is such a thing as “a banana person”? How strange! ABC means American-born Chinese. An ABC is a Chinese, but was born in the United States. Sometimes, people call an ABC a “banana person”. A banana is yellow outside. So, when a person is a “banana”, he or she is white inside—thinking like a Westerner and yellow outside—looking like a Chinese.

Usually, ABCs know little about China or the Chinese language. Some of them don’t speak Chinese. But if ABCs cannot speak Chinese, can we still call them Chinese people? Yes, of course. They are overseas（海外的）Chinese. These people may be citizens（公民）of another country like the US, Canada or Singapore. But they have Chinese blood. Their parents, grandparents or even great-grandparents were from China. They all have black eyes and black hair.But they are not Chinese citizens. They are people of the People’s Republic of China. For example, we all know the famous scientist C. N. Yang（杨振宁）. He got the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1957. Chinese people love him. But he is an American citizen.

◆.阅读下面短文，完成下列小题，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。
　　Nowadays, the food that you buy comes from many different countries．Have a look in your fridge, cupboard, and fruit bowl and check the origins(来源) of the food．Perhaps there are apples from California, lamb from New Zealand, or potatoes from Egypt? You will probably be surprised how far food travels to get to your plate．This journey, from “field to plate”, is called “food miles”．A food mile is the distance that food travels from the farmer’s field to the person who buys the f ood．Nowadays, food often travels thousands of miles to get to the consumer(消费者)．Why is this, and what are the effects(影响) of these long distances?

　　Traditionally, farmers sold their food in the local market so the food didn’t have to travel very far．The consumers also did not travel very far, because they went to their local market to buy the food．This was a good system for farmers and consumers．However, there were some disadvantages．For example, consumers could only buy food that farmers produced locally．In addition, they could only get food that was in season．Now, because of modern technology, food comes from all over the world．We do not have to wait for spring or summer to buy strawberries or tomatoes．They are available in winter if we want．
   Some countries have to import(进口) most of their food．This is because they have difficult climates．The United Arab Emirates(UAE), for example, gets 85% of its food from other countries．Even food made in the UAE often uses imported materials．
   What’s wrong with “food miles”? Is this not a good way of increasing international trade? I believe these miles are worrying for a number of reasons．First of all, because food travels such long distances．we need more planes, lorries, and ships to move the food．This means we use more oil or petrol, so there is more pollution and more global(全球的) warming．In addition, food that travels a long way is not fresh and usually not very tasty．Tomatoes, for example, are picked early and stored for their long journey．For this reason, they are usually tasteless when they get to the consumer．Local food has a better taste, a nd it also reduces the amount of global pollution．We need to buy more local food．