Holly老師的英語新天地

雅思閱讀想拿高分(甚至滿分!!) 的不二法門，除了學會課堂中有教授的重要技巧外，就是練習、練習、再練習！All in all, Practice makes Perfect.  ~  Let’s Roll!

Gold Rush in Australia

The transportation of convicts to Australia was phased out between 1840 and 1868. By 1860, the continent of Australia had been divided into five separate colonies, each not seeing eye-to-eye and exhibiting more loyalty to London than to each other. A major force within the colonies was the “squatocracy” — the rich officers and settlers, a.k.a. opportunists, who had followed the explorers into fertile hinterlands. They simply laid claim to or “squatted” upon enormous tracts of land, often 20,000 acres and more. Free for all, but with lots of social tension. The development of Australia confinued at a steady but unspectacular rate. Then came the Gold Rush period!

Gold was originally discovered in Australia by Rev. W.B. Clarke in 1841, but the news was suppressed. The Governor Sir George Gipps said to him—“Put it away. Mr. Clarke, or we shall all have our throats cut!” In 1851, Edward Hargraves, an Australian veteran of the California USA gold rush, went to the tributaries of the MacQuarie River near Bathurst, 170 km west of Sydney—and found gold. The rush was on! Each colony tried to find their own. In Victoria, gold was found in Castlemaine, Ballarat, and Bendigo. Gold rushes flared like bushfire around the continent for the next two decades. For all the chaos of the diggings, there was also considerable order, honesty, discipline, and political solidarity between the “diggers”—contrasting with the lynch law of California USA. One glitch of course was the famous Eureka Stockade uprising by the diggers and miners against the authorities. The rest of the world, on hearing tales of giant nuggets and creeks paved with gold, set sail for Australia. In 1852 alone, 95,000 new arrivals flooded into New South Wales and Victoria. The Largest minority were the Chinese, who were much resented by the other settlers for their willingness to work hard, for keeping to themselves, and for their “sheer numbers” (probably because they looked different and stood out). Then also came the boom in highway robberies by Australian Bushrangers and legendary outlaws such as Ned Kelly—the Robin Hood of Australia.

On January 1, 1901, a new nation was born—Australia. In September 1900, Queen Victoria of England regally proclaimed the birth of a new nation. The table at which she signed this proclamation was then shipped from London to Sydney, where on the 1st. January 1901 at Centennial Park, Sydney, the Federal Commonwealth of Australia was inaugurated by the first Governor-General of Australia—Lord Hopetoun. Australia’s first Prime Minister was Edmund Barton of the Liberal Protectionist Party. (The other two political parties were the Labour Party and the Conservative Free Traders).

A new nation, but still attached to Mother England like a little child stepping out, Australia’s constitution was rather tame compared to the United States of America. The Queen of Britain remained the head of state, retaining the power over all foreign affairs; her direct representative in Australia was the Governor-General. British parliamentary legislation could overrule any laws passed by the Commonwealth of Australia, and legal appeals ultimately were settled by the Privy Council in London. Few Australians objected to this arrangement, for each of the six colonies felt more at ease dealing with England (the motherland) than with dealing with one another. For her part, Mother England did not let the new nation escape the interests of imperialism. She expected and received continuing support in her military involvements, and ample returns on her substantial investments in Australia.

In the interim, the first Federal Parliament was located at the Parliament House in Melbourne. For the longer term, a capital city was needed and both Sydney and Melbourne lobbied for it to be in their state. However, neither of the longstanding rivals would permit it in the other’s backyard! After considerable backbiting, a separate Australian Capital Territory was proposed at a point between the two cities. Hence the future city of Canberra (meaning “meeting place” in Aboriginal language), to be the Australian Capital Territory, was located on the beautiful Monaro Tablelands area.

Questions

Choose one phrase (A—H) from the list of phrase to complete each key point below. The information in the completed sentences should be an accurate summary of points made by the writer.

NB      There are more phrases A—H than sentences so you will not use them all.

List of Phrase

1.   The “squatocracy” seized the moment...

2.   In contrast to the lawlessness of the Californian diggings...

3.   The individual Australian colonies didn’t work together...

4.   Canberra’s location was the result of...

1. ____________________________           

2. ____________________________

3. ____________________________           

4. ____________________________

Answer key: 1.D  2.A   3.E   4.H