[00:03.81]Lesson 25
[00:07.05]1.Dialogue
[00:10.61]Fang Qun has just met Dean,who is Canadian.
[00:15.26]Where are you from?
[00:18.70]I'm from Canada.
[00:22.07]Really?I thought you were from the States.
[00:27.32]That 'a not surprising.
[00:30.88]A lot of people can't tell the difference
[00:35.34]between an American accent and a Canadian accent.
[00:41.27]Are there many differences?
[00:44.80]No,just a few.
[00:48.56]For example,most Canadians say news,but Americans say.
[00:56.40]We mainly use American words,but we use quite a lot of British words too.
[01:03.84]We fill our cars with "gas",which is American,
[01:09.41]but we turn on the "tep" which is British English.
[01:14.87]Oh!And do you use American or British spelling?
[01:20.04]Both!American spellings are used more and more in Canada now.
[01:26.70]Generally speaking newspapers follow the American way,
[01:32.55]but conference reports and schoolbooks use British spelling.
[01:38.32]That sounds atrange.
[01:41.38]You mean it looks strange!I'll tell you something that does sound strange.
[01:46.53]Many people think that Canadians all over the country speak the same way.
[01:53.06]But if you go to the eastern provinces,or go to some country areas,
[01:59.22]you'll notice that the people there speak qute differently from the rest of Canada.
[02:05.57]Lesson 26
[02:16.62]2.Reading comprehension
[02:20.85]CANADA(1)
[02:24.61]Canada is the second largest country in the world.
[02:29.34]It is larger than the USA and reaches nearly a quater of the way round the earth.
[02:36.29]The distance from east to west is over 5,500 kilometres
[02:42.25]and the country covers six of the world's 24 time areas.
[02:47.52]The population of Canada is about 29 million and the capital is Ottawa.
[02:54.29]There are two official languages,French and English.
[02:59.25]The first travellers arrived from England in 1497.
[03:04.40]Settlets from France reached Canada in 1534.
[03:09.44]For wto centuries English and French settlers struggled against each other
[03:15.08]to control the country.
[03:18.24]Today,one province of Canada is French-speaking.
[03:22.89]The TV and radio programmes there are in French.
[03:27.86]There are French restaurants and all the teaching in schools is done in French.
[03:34.23]As in China,the weateher is different from area to area.
[03:39.27]In the north,the winters are long and hard,with snow for six months of the year.
[03:46.53]The temperatures can fall to -60'C,that is 60'C below freezing.
[03:55.21]In the capital,Ottawa,the average of winter temperature is -10'C,
[04:02.47]and in summer 21'C.
[04:06.60]The west coast of Canada is the warmest place in winter.
[04:11.64]The average January temperature is 3'C,and in July it is 18'C .
[04:19.89]Here it rains a lot every month of the year.
[04:24.33]Plants grow well all the year round
[04:28.59]and the parks and gardens are famous for their flowers.
[04:33.35]Canada has one third of the world's supply of frexh water.
[04:38.49]There are five great lakes in the south,
[04:42.28]and there are many others,especiallly in the north.
[04:47.01]Most of the electricity is produced by water.
[04:51.66]The country has a great deal of coal,oil and natural gas,
[04:57.53]and these are all esploited for energy.
[05:01.79]Much of the country is covered by forests,
[05:05.74]and wood is cut and sold all iver the world.
[05:10.10]Canada is also the world's biggest producer
[05:14.64]of the kind of paper which is used for news-papers.
[05:19.61]Fishing is also very important for Canadians.
[05:24.18]Fish from the east and west coasts is sold to may other countries.
[05:30.03]Lesson 27
[05:38.36]1.Reading comprehension
[05:42.62]CANADA(2)
[05:45.99]North American Indians have lived in southern Canada for over 20,000 years.
[05:52.94]In the early days,some lived in tents,
[05:57.59]moved from place to place and hunted wild animals.
[06:03.15]Others remained in one place and started farms of their own.
[06:09.03]Today many of them live in special areas where they can continue their way of life
[06:16.48]The people of northern Canada are called Inuit,
[06:21.47]who came from Asia and stteled in Canada about 4,000 years ago.
[06:27.81]They used to travel around from place to place
[06:33.59]with terms of dogs which pulled their baggage.
[06:38.55]In summer they hunted a type of deer
[06:42.99]and in winter built small round houses with blocks of snow.
[06:48.95]They lived on fish and meat and used to make holes in the ice
[06:54.90]and catch fish and seals.
[06:58.56]They made clothes and shoes from furs and from skins of seals.
[07:04.91]They made use of animal bones,which they carved into basic tools.
[07:11.15]There are about 25,000 Inuit in all.
[07:16.01]They live in settlements.
[07:19.17]The government has started a new school project
[07:23.92]in which Inuit teach their own young children.
[07:28.37]School children visit Inuit villages
[07:33.04]and have classes where they learn how to fish,
[07:37.59]how to carve bones and how to make clothes.
[07:42.24]So,it is hoped that the way of Inuit life will be kept alive for many more centuries |