book page 19, exercise 5
More or less
in the middle of Australia, Uluru, the biggest
and most famous rock in the world, rises out of the
flat red desert. It is 348 meters high,
and experts believe that two
thirds of it is under the ground. Walk all the way to the bottom of it, and you’ll walk ten kilometers. Even though you’ve seen photos
of the rock, it’s a wonderful
moment when you see it for the first
time. The best time to see it is at sunset.
As the sun sinks, the colours
in the rock change from red to brown to purple.
To the Aborigines, Uluru is a holy place. Before they gave the rock back to the
Aborigines in 1985, white Australians called
it Ayers Rock. The new owners would prefer people not to climb the rock. Unfortunately thousands still do, although there are others who/that show more respect. In fact you can buy a T-shirt that/which says “I didn’t climb
Ayers Rock.”
Not so long ago, the nearest town to
the rock was Alice Springs, almost 400 kilometers away. Since then the resort
town of Yulara has been built
only 20 kilometers from the
rock. With a population of
4,000 it is the fourth largest town in the Northern
Territory.
