Alaska Wild and Free Nick Harris free download PDF.

Invata engleza citind, nivelul recomandat A1 Starter

WHERE IS ALASKA?

HOW BIG IS IT?

WHO LIVES THERE?

Eskimos first lived in Alaska more than 7,000 years ago. Today, about 16% of all Alaskans are Eskimos. These people are really three groups: the Inupiaq, the Yupik, and the Alutiiq. These groups are not very different, but they speak different languages. Alaska was a part of Russia for a long time. Then in 1867, the United States bought it from Russia for $7.2 million. Many people thought this was too much money. But in the late 1840s, the Americans found gold in Alaska.

Then in 1901, they found some oil there. Later, in the 1950s, they found lots of oil. Alaska is a very big place. It's the biggest state - more than twice as big as Texas, the next biggest state. But not many people live there. Over 8 million people live in New York City, but only 730,000 live in all of Alaska. And about half of them live in the city of Anchorage. Alaska has many mountains and glaciers. A glacier is like a river of ice. The Matanuska glacier is one of the most beautiful. The winters are freezing with a lot of snow storms. In winter, it is also very dark because there is no sun in the far northern part of the state, and in other areas, it comes out for only two to seven hours every day

There is a lot of outdoor fun on Kodiak island. Kodiak Island is in the southern part of Alaska. It is the second largest island in the United States, but it has less than 160 kilometers of roads. There are lots of high mountains, green forests, rivers, and lakes. About 30,000 visitors come to Kodiak every year. They come to climb mountains, catch fish, watch whales jump in the sea, and go camping. Bear watching is also very popular. The island gets its name from the big Kodiak bear.

There are over 3,500 of these wonderful animals living in the forests. But you must be very quiet if you want to see one! About 13,000 people live on Kodiak Island all year, and half of them live in Kodiak City. The others live in small villages by the sea. The Alutiiq people were the first to live on the island. They came 7,500 years ago and they stayed. Today, about 17 percent of all the people on Kodiak Island are Alutiiqs. They speak English and Alutiiq. In 2010, only 50 people spoke the Alutiiq language! But now schools are teaching the language because they don't want it to die. The most important businesses here are fishing and tourism. There are seven hotels, 17 places to eat, and many shops in Kodiak City. The shops sell things made on the island.