人煙稀少的泱泱大國(guó)，文化多樣并存

Throughout most of Canada， especially when travelling outside of major cities， one can find himself lost in emptiness， with kilometers and kilometers of no one around， only wild fields.

Most Canadians live in the south， just because the best land for farmers has always been in Canadas south— the north is just too cold for anything to grow happily.

Canada， covering 9.98 million square kilometers， is the second largest country in the world in area and takes up almost two fifths of the continent6 of North America. However， it is one of the worlds least populated countries. There are only 36 million inhabitants7 in Canada， which makes it the 38th most populated country in the world. This is almost the same number as state of California in the US. The three biggest cities of Canada are Toronto， Montreal and Vancouver. The national capital is Ottawa， Canadas 4th largest city. Canada might be one of the most popular immigrant8 countries today. But it was not until 50 years ago that Canada opened its door. Before that， not only it was very difficult to immigrate into Canada， people in Canada tried to leave constantly（不斷地）， to somewhere warmer and easier to survive9.

Although the population is small， Canadians have crafted a model multicultural（多種文化的） society. French people have settled in10 parts of Canada， so did people from Great Britain. The word “Canada” came from “Kanata”， meaning a village or settlement. Canada is officially bilingual（兩種語(yǔ)言的）in English and French， reflecting the countrys history once written by two of Europes great powers：The Great Britain and France.

In the English-speaking part of the country， Canadians live in a society where most legal and official matters are similar to Britain. In the French-speaking part of the country， especially Quebec， the French characteristics can be found with differences in religion（宗教）， architecture， and schooling.

In the past decades11 and centuries， Canada has opened its arms widely to welcome numerous immigrant populations from all over the world. Consequently（因此）， French and British influences， cultures of native Indian people， and the growing number of immigrants from other countries， have all made Canada even more multicultural. Toronto is the most multi-cultural city in Canada， because 49% of its residents12 are from over 100 nations.

Canada is one of the best countries to make friends. Canadians are known for being easy-going， friendly， and polite. It also seems Canadians apologize13 all the time. No one really know the reason behind that.

在加拿大的大部分地區(qū)，尤其是在大城市之外旅行時(shí)，你常常會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)自己迷失在荒野之中。放眼望去四顧無(wú)人，只有無(wú)盡的空地。

大多數(shù)加拿大人住在南方。原因很簡(jiǎn)單，最適合耕種的土地通常都在南方——北方天氣寒冷，農(nóng)作物很難快樂(lè)生長(zhǎng)。

加拿大是世界上第二大國(guó)，領(lǐng)土面積達(dá)998萬(wàn)平方千米，幾乎占據(jù)整個(gè)北美洲的五分之二。但它也是全世界最地廣人稀的國(guó)家之一。這里只有3，600萬(wàn)人口，排名全世界第38位，大約相當(dāng)于美國(guó)加利福尼亞州的人口。加拿大最大的三座城市分別是多倫多、蒙特利爾和溫哥華。首都渥太華則是其第四大城市。今天的加拿大，也許是全世界最受歡迎的移民國(guó)家之一。實(shí)際上，直到50年前，加拿大才開(kāi)放國(guó)門(mén)。在那之前，移民很難進(jìn)入加拿大，而本來(lái)已經(jīng)身在加拿大的很多人也在不斷地離開(kāi)，去往更溫暖、更容易生存的環(huán)境。

雖然加拿大人口數(shù)量相對(duì)較少，但它絕對(duì)是多元文化社會(huì)的典范。加拿大的某些地區(qū)曾經(jīng)是英國(guó)和法國(guó)的殖民地，加拿大的名字Canada原意是“村莊”或“殖民”。它的官方語(yǔ)言是英語(yǔ)和法語(yǔ)兩種語(yǔ)言，這也折射出歐洲擁有最強(qiáng)實(shí)力的兩個(gè)國(guó)家——英國(guó)和法國(guó)，在這里留下的歷史印記。

在英語(yǔ)為主要語(yǔ)言的加拿大城市中，法律和官方事務(wù)與英國(guó)極為相似；而在法語(yǔ)地區(qū)，特別是魁北克，法國(guó)性格能從當(dāng)?shù)刈诮獭⒔ㄖ徒虒W(xué)中窺見(jiàn)一斑。

多少年來(lái)，加拿大張開(kāi)雙臂，將無(wú)數(shù)不同背景的移民擁入懷抱。除了英、法文化，當(dāng)?shù)氐耐林〉诎踩艘约安粩嘣鲩L(zhǎng)的來(lái)自其他國(guó)家的移民，也在持續(xù)影響著加拿大，共同將加拿大變得更加多元化。其中，多倫多是加拿大最多元的城市，49%的居民來(lái)自超過(guò)100個(gè)不同的國(guó)家。

據(jù)說(shuō)，加拿大是最適合交朋友的國(guó)家。他們?nèi)菀紫嗵?，友好且善良。你?huì)感覺(jué)加拿大人總在道歉，沒(méi)人知道為什么。