题型：阅读理解 题类：常考题 难易度：普通
外研版（2019）高中英语必修一Unit 4同步练习
Australia was first used as an island prison by Britain to solve their problem of having a fast growing prison population. These early settlers were those who were sent from all over Great Britain, including Ireland, Wales, and Scotland. Later events, such as the gold rush, caused several waves of immigration (移居) from Europe, Asia and other parts of the world. It is commonly thought that Australians are offspring (后代) of those criminals (罪犯)! In fact, only a part of Australians are those criminals' offspring. Also, in those days, people could be put into prison or sent to Australia for small crimes, like stealing a loaf of bread. Today Australia is home to the largest Greek and Italian communities in the world, outside Greece and Italy. This has helped the Australian accent develop.
Australian English was created by the first generation of children born in the new area. Since they talked with people who have different accents, they began to speak a distinct dialect of English that was to become the language of the nation. These differences were first noted by late arrivals in the early 1800s, and the language sounds like Cockney English, spoken by the workingclass in London.
Soon, words from native languages were to become part of the Australian English. Here are some words you may consider them to be Standard English. In fact, they are from native Australian languages!
The names of many places and animals, including Canberra (the Australian capital, meaning "meeting place" in a local language).
Hard yakka — meaning "hard work", coming from the language of the Brisbane area.
Cooee — a call used traditionally by native Australians to attract attention, because the sound can travel long distances.
Bung — meaning "dead", but also used to mean broken or useless, for example, "He has a bung eye".
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