41819 canada reading comprehension

Canada
Canada is a country in North America. It has a population of 35 million people. It is the second
largest country in the world by total area and has the longest common border in the world –
the border between Canada and the United States, which is nearly 9,000 kilometres long.
It has three territories, Northwest, Yukon and Nunavut. It also has ten provinces: Ontario,
Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Manitoba, British Columbia, Prince Edward Island,
Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Newfoundland.
Canada has a cold climate. Its capital, Ottawa, gets an average of 236 centimetres of snow
every year. In winter, the temperature in many cities remains well below freezing – for
example, in Winnipeg, the average maximum temperature in December, January and February
is – 15.3 degrees Celcius. Unsurprisingly, Canadians are very good skiiers. In 2010, Canada
came first in the medal tally at the Winter Olympics in the Canadian city of Vancouver, with a
total of 14 gold medals.
Canada's government is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy. Queen
Elizabeth II is the head of state. Both French and English are official languages and Canada
has one of the highest standards of living in the world.
Canada is famous for its special police force, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Members of
the police force are known as Mounties, because in the past, they used to ride horses while on
duty. Now, they only use horses on special occasions. The Mounties are also famous for their
red uniforms. There are about 20,000 Mounties in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Toronto
Toronto is the capital of the Canadian province of Ontario and is the largest city in
Canada.
With 2.5 million residents, it is the fifth most populated city in North America! Toronto is part
of the region known as 'The Golden Horseshoe', which is home to over 8 million residents or
approximately 25 percent of Canada's population. It was first founded in 1834 by John Graves
Simcoe. The Great Toronto Fire of 1904 destroyed much of the downtown, but the city was
rebuilt quickly.
Toronto is now one of Canada's most multicultural cities with almost half of its residents born
outside of Canada. The city is also the economic capital of Canada and home to the Toronto

Stock Exchange. Toronto's CN Tower was the world's tallest free-standing structure for
34 years and is a popular tourist attraction. The city is home to the Blue Jays baseball team, the
Raptors basketball team, the Argonauts football team, the Toronto FC soccer team and
The Maple Leafs hockey team!


Exercise 1: How much/How many.
Complete the following questions with much or many. Then, find the
correct answers in the text.
How _______________ people live in Canada? __________________________
How _______________ snow does Ottawa get each year? ___________________
How _______________ provinces are there in Canada?___________________
How ________________ Mounties are there in the Canadian Mounted Police? ____________
How ____________ medals did Canada win at the Vancouver Olympics?_________________
How ____________ of Canada’s population lives in the “Golden Horseshoe”?_____________
Exercise 2. Read the sentences and decide: true (T) or false (F)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Toronto is a city in Canada. ……….
It’s the smallest city in this country. ……….
It was founded in the 18th century. ………
After the fire the city was not rebuilt. ……….
There are no other nations living in Toronto. ………
It’s a financial centre. ……….

It’s not famous for any sports team. ……….

Exercise 3. Match the word with its definition.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

province ……….
resident –
……….
approximately – ……….
population –
……….
multicultural – ……….

a.
b.
c.
d.
e.

the number of people living in a particular area, country
closely to the exact number
the part of a country outside of the capital or the largest cities.
someone who lives or stays in a particular place
including people or ideas from many different countries, races