2016届高三英语一轮复习讲义：Book 3 Unit 9_高考复习指南

2016届高三英语一轮复习讲义：Book 3 Unit 9

　　BARBARA KLEIN：Our VOA listener question this week comes from Bangladesh.Munna asks if Hawaii is an American state.

　　Experts believe that Polynesian people discovered the Hawaiian Islands about two thousand years ago.A king ruled the islands when British sea captain James Cook arrived in 1775.

　　In 1818，the Hawaiian King Kamehameha said the group should be called the“Islands of the Kingdom of Hawaii”．Britain gave the islands their independence in 1843.The king was ousted fifty years later by a group of American businessmen.Hawaii became the fiftieth state of the United States in 1959.

　　The state of Hawaii includes eight major islands in the middle of the North Pacific Ocean.The main islands are Kauai，Oahu，Molokai，Maui，Lanai and Hawaii，also called the Big Island.The island of Niihau is privately owned.Kahoolawe has no people.

　　Hawaii is far from other populated areas.It is more than three thousand kilometers from the state of California.It is more than six thousand kilometers from Japan.

　　Hot liquid rock called lava formed the Hawaiian Islands millions of years ago.The lava flowed up from the sea through openings in the sea floor.Visitors today can watch this process continue on the Big Island where the world’s most active volcano still produces lava.

　　Each of the Hawaiian Islands has a wet side and a dry side. It rains much more on the northeast sides of the islands and much more in winter than in summer.This gives each island two separate climate areas.One area is dry and desertlike.The other area has green plants，rivers and waterfalls.