�Lexical Cloze: Australia...
Read the following�text about Australia and choose the correct word for each gap
Australia is the sixth��country in the world. It's about the same size the 48 mainland states of the USA and 50 per cent larger than Europe, but has the lowest population density the world - only two people per square kilometre.
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Australia�s coastline stretches almost 50,000 kilometres and is linked by over 10,000 beaches, more than any country in the world. More than 85 per cent of Australians live within 50 kilometres of the coast.
Australia is the only nation to govern an continent and its outlying islands. The mainland is the largest island and the world�s smallest, flattest continent.
The iconic kangaroo is to Australia and one of the most easily recognised mammals. There are an estimated 40 million kangaroos in Australia, more than when Australia was first settled.
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Australia developed a unique fauna when it broke away from the super-continent Gondwana more than 50 million years . Today Australia is home to a wealth of wildlife not found else in the world.�It has around 800 species of birds, half of which are unique to this country.�The marine environments contain more than 4,000 fish and tens of thousands of species of invertebrates, plants and micro-organisms. About 80 per cent of Australia's southern marine species are found nowhere else in the world.
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Australia also supports at least 25,000 species of plants, compared 17,500 in Europe. That includes living fossils like the Wollemi pine and the grass tree, and brilliant wildflowers. There are over 12,000 species in Western Australia alone!
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