Q: Sydney () is the state capital of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds the world's largest natural harbour and sprawls about on its periphery towards the Blue Mountains to the west, Hawkesbury to the north and Macarthur to the south. Sydney is made up of 658 suburbs, 40 local government areas and 15 contiguous regions. Residents of the city are known as "Sydneysiders". As at June 2016 Sydney's estimated population was 5,029,768.

The Sydney area has been inhabited by indigenous Australians for at least 30,000 years. Lieutenant James Cook first landed at Kurnell in 1770, when navigating his way up the east coast of Australia on his ship, "HMS Endeavour". It was not until 1788 when the "First Fleet", which contained convicts and was led by Captain Arthur Phillip, arrived in Botany Bay to found Sydney as a penal colony, the first European settlement in Australia. Phillip named the city "Sydney" in recognition of Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney, Home Secretary in 1788. There are examples of rock art and engravings located in the protected Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, as well as the Royal National Park.

Since convict transportation ended in the mid-19th century, the city has transformed from a colonial outpost into a major global cultural and economic centre. The municipal council of Sydney was incorporated in 1842 and became Australia's first city. Gold was discovered in the colony in 1851 and with it came thousands of people seeking to make money. Sydney became one of the most multicultural cities in the world after the mass migration following the second World War. According to the , more than 250 different languages were spoken in Sydney and about 40 percent of residents spoke a language other than English at home. Furthermore, 36 percent of the population reported having been born overseas.

Answer the following questions:
1. What city is this article about?
2. What country is it in?
3. Is it the capital of Australia?
4. What is it the capital of?
5. How many people live there?
6. How long does its history go back?
7. When was the city founded?
8. Were there other colonies in Australia?
9. What mountains are to its west
10. Does everyone speak English at home there?
11. What was found there in 1851?
12. What happened after that discovery?
A: 1. Sydney
2. Australia
3. no
4. New South Wales
5. 5,029,768
6. at least 30,000 years
7. 1842
8. unknown
9. the Blue Mountains
10. no
11. Gold
12. thousands of people came

Answer the questions at the end based on the text.

Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. As of the 2010 Census, Connecticut features the highest per-capita income, Human Development Index (0.962), and median household income in the United States. Connecticut is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capital is Hartford and its most populous city is Bridgeport. Although Connecticut is technically part of New England, it is often grouped along with New York and New Jersey as the Tri-state area. The state is named for the Connecticut River, a major U.S. river that approximately bisects the state. The word "Connecticut" is derived from various anglicized spellings of an Algonquian word for "long tidal river".

Connecticut is the third smallest state by area, the 29th most populous, and the fourth most densely populated of the 50 United States. It is known as the "Constitution State", the "Nutmeg State", the "Provisions State", and the "Land of Steady Habits". It was influential in the development of the federal government of the United States. Much of southern and western Connecticut (along with the majority of the state's population) is part of the New York metropolitan area; three of Connecticut's eight counties are statistically included in the New York City combined statistical area, which is widely referred to as the Tri-State area. Connecticut's center of population is in Cheshire, New Haven County, which is also located within the Tri-State area.

1. What is the Tri-State Area?
2. Where is Connecticut?
3. What is one of its nicknames?
4. Why?
5. How is their Index score?
6. What is to the south of the State?
7. What is its capital?
8. And the city with the most population?
9. Is it in the northern part of New England?
10. Then where?
11. Where did its name come from?
12. What does the word mean?
13. What language is it from?
14. How big is it in areas compared to the rest of the country?
15. How about by population?
16. What about population density?
17. Where is the center of population?
18. In what county?
19. Is it a landlocked state?
20. What metro area is most of the population part of?

Numbered answers:

A: 1. Connecticut, New York and New Jersey
2. in the New England region of the northeastern United States.
3. Constitution State
4. It was influential in the development of the federal government of the United States.
5. it is at 0.962
6. Long Island Sound
7. Hartford
8. Bridgeport.
9. no
10. southernmost
11. the Connecticut River,
12. long tidal river
13. Algonquian
14. third smallest state
15. 29th
16. fourth
17. Cheshire,
18. New Haven County
19. yes
20. New York metropolitan area

Answer the questions at the end based on the text.

Marie Colvin, a veteran correspondent who was killed in Syria last week, died trying to get her shoes so she could escape a shelling attack, her paper reported Sunday.

Colvin, a New York native, worked for London's The Sunday Times.

As is the custom in Syria, she took off her shoes upon entering a building that was serving as a makeshift press center. She was on the ground floor when rockets hit the upper floors, The Sunday Times reported.

Thinking then that the building was a target, Colvin rushed to retrieve her shoes in the hall. A rocket landed just a few yards away, the paper said.

Colvin, 56, was the only British newspaper journalist inside the Homs neighborhood of Baba Amr. She was killed alongside French journalist Remi Ochlik in the attack Wednesday.

Her mother, Rosemarie Colvin, said aid workers have been trying for days to remove her daughter's body from the war-ravaged country.

She added that she believes her daughter was deliberately targeted by Syrian government forces.

"They were first in another house, and the top floors there were blown off," she said. "First (the Syrian forces) rocketed the front of the building," she said, fueling suspicion that the attack against a makeshift media center where Colvin and Ochlik were holed up was no accident.

The Syrian government was not immediately available for comment.

The day before she was killed, Colvin had given media interviews to networks like ITN and CNN about the ongoing clashes in Homs, and about a child who was killed in the city.

1. Where did Colvin work?
2. Was she born in London?
3. Where, then?
4. What was her job title?
5. Which other journalist was killed at the same time?
6. On what day did it occur?
7. How old was Colvin?
8. In what country did the attack occur?
9. What was Colvin reaching for when the rocket landed?
10. How far away from Colvin did it make contact?
11. Why wasn't she wearing her shoes?
12. What type of building was she in?
13. Who is Marie Colvin's mother?
14. Does she believe the attack was targeted?
15. By who?
16. Was Marie bombed in another location?
17. Did the Syrian government defend themselves to the press?
18. Has Colvin's body been returned to her family?
19. Who is working on that effort?
20. What had Colvin been reporting on before her death?

Numbered answers:

A:
1. The Sunday Times
2. no
3. New York
4. veteran correspondent
5. Remi Ochlik
6. Wednesday
7. 56
8. Syria
9. her shoes
10. few yards
11. custom in Syria
12. makeshift press center
13. Rosemarie Colvin
14. yes
15. Syrian government forces
16. No
17. no
18. No
19. aid workers
20. ongoing clashes in Homs, and about a child who was killed in the city.