Unit18 New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island that lies off the eastern coast of Australia. It is made up of two large islands: North Island and South Island. New Zealand is surrounded by the Pacific Ocean to the north and east, and the Tasman Sea to the south and west. It is about the same size as the Philippines. Wellington, the capital city, lies on the North Island. Other important cities are Auckland in the north, Christchurch on the South Island and Queenstown, further to the south.

New Zealand has a mild sea climate, while the north is subtropical. It rains quite a lot. The warmest months are December to February. The coldest months are June to August.

The ocean and seas surrounding the islands are deep blur and many of New Zealand’s cities lie on a bay and have a natural deep harbor. The sand beaches in New Zealand are also very clean. New Zealand has a very beautiful natural landscape with green hills and mountains. Some of the mountains are dead volcanoes. The North Island is famous for an area of hot springs, some of which throw hot many plants and animals that

only live in New Zealand’s national bird.

The Maori were the earliest people to come to New Zealand .When they discovered it about 1,000 years ago, they called it Aotearoa, which means “Land of the long white cloud”. The Maori came from the islands of Polynesia in the Pacific. It is some 3,500 kilometers from Polynesia to New Zealand, which they traveled in narrow boats. They brought dogs, rats and plants with them and settled mainly on the North Island where the weather was warmer. Around 1421, Chinese sailors discovered the islands on one of their voyages around the world. The Dutchman Abel Tasman named the islands New Zealand in 1642. More than 120 years later, Captain James Cook took possession of the islands in 1769 and from that time British people started to settle in New Zealand. By 1840 about 2,000 Europeans, mainly British, had come to settle in New Zealand and the Maori signed and agreement with these settlers. That day is still celebrated as a national holiday. It is every year on the sixth of February. Today there are still many people in New Zealand who call England “the home country “, although it is a place where most of them have never been.

Post-reading

1.What do the words in bold refer to?

(1)It_______(2)which_________(3)this heat _______(4)these settlers_____________ (5)it_____________

2 The reading passage has four paragraphs. Match each paragraph with the best heading.

1 History

2 Climate

3 Natural beauty

4 Geography

3 Describe the location of the following places in relation to New Zealand. Example: Australia lies to the west of New Zealand.

A The Pacific Ocean

B The Tasman Sea

C Wellington

D Auckland

E Christchurch

4 Look at the graphs below and choose the correct answers to the following questions.

Summer December-February

Auckland

Wellington Chrischurch Queenstown

Winter June-August

Auckland Wellington Chrischurch Queenstown

1. The highest temperature in Christchurch in winter is about__________

A 9℃

B 11℃

C 12℃

D 16℃

2. The city whose temperature changes from about 6℃to 12℃in winter is _______

A Auckland

B Wellington

C Christchurch

D Queenstown

3. From summer to winter the greatest change in temperature (between highest and lowest ) is in___________

A Auckland

B Wellington

C Christchurch

D Queenstown

4 The cities whose rainfall changes least from winter to summer are__________

A Queenstown and Wellington

B Auckland and Christchurch

C Auckland and Wellington

D Christchurch and Queenstown

5 What can you learn about the climate and weather in New Zealand from the graphs? What information do the graphs not give?

6 Compare the climate in China with that in New Zealand. What is the dame and what is different? Can you explain the differences?