英语学习问题Sydney Take a taxi from Sydney Airport and chances are

英语学习问题
Sydney
Take a taxi from Sydney Airport and chances are that the driver will not say “G’day” with the broad accent you might expect. Probe1 a little further and you will probably discover that he was not born in Australia. Like the United States, Australia is a society of immigrants, and Sydney has been a preferred destination for many of these new arrivals. Over the past half century the Anglo-Irish2 immigrants who made up the city’s original population have been joined by successive waves of Italians, Greeks, Turks, Lebanese, and, more recently, Asians. This intermingling3 has created a cultural vibrancy4 and energy that were missing only a generation ago.这里 可不可以填before？？
Sydney is a city in a hurry. Compared with traffic in the rest of Australia, Sydney’s is fast and impatient. The more than 4 million people in this city work hard and play harder; moderation is something practiced by the citizens of Melbourne. Sydney has the tallest buildings, the most expensive real estate, the finest beaches, and the seediest nightlife of any Australian city. Most Australians regard its loud, brash ways with a mixture of fear and fascination, although Sydneysiders prefer to think of home as virile5 rather than vulgar.
The city’s panache6 and appetite for life seem a strident7 contrast to the barren, unforgiving continent at its door. In fact, for the average Sydneysider, life unfolds in one of the red-roofed suburbs that surround the city. The outback8 is as foreign to most of them as the Mojave Desert is to the inhabitants of Boston. They have embraced Sydney’s harbor with a passion, however. The harbor is a shining gem, studded with small bays and inlets9 and crowned by the billowing10 sails of the Opera House.
Visiting this city is an essential part of an Australian experience. But remember, as you do so, that Sydney is no more representative of Australia than New York is of the United States. It has joined the ranks of the great cosmopolitan11 cities whose characters are essentially international, offering great looks, style, and sophistication. In 2000, the year that the Olympic Games came to town, Sydney became one of the fashionable destinations of the new millennium.