Small island
(1) Have you ever heard / Did you hear of
Tuvalu? It's a Polynesian island in the Pacific
Ocean. There are two official languages,
Tuvaluan and English. Only 12,373 people
(2) live / are living there. The population is not
as small as in Vatican City or Nauru, but it (3)
is / has been the third smallest in the world.
Tuvalu is about halfway between Australia
and Hawaii.
The country is in fact nine tiny separate islands.
Four (4) are / will be reef islands and five are
atolls, coral islands with a lagoon in the middle.
Europeans (5) have known / knew about the
islands (6) for / since over 400 years. A group
of Spanish explorers saw the islands in 1568,
but (7) weren't able / haven't been able to land.
In fact, Europeans didn't land on Tuvalu until the
late 18th century. The islands (8) became / have
become part of the British Empire in 1892.
They were called the Ellice Islands.
Tuvalu (9) was / has been an independent
country (10) since / for 1978, but Queen
Elizabeth II of Great Britain is the head of state.
It (11) became / has become a member of the
United Nations in 2000. There is a campaign
in Tuvalu about environmental problems. If the
level of the sea (12) rises / will rise, Tuvalu will
disappear!
Tuvalu is a very poor country. A lot of Tuvaluans
work as fishermen, farmers or government
employees, but the country needs a lot of
foreign money and help to survive.​