Text 1. The Political System

The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy. This means that it has a monarch as its head of state. But the monarch’s power is limited by Constitution so that he/she can only reign with the support of Parliament. Parliament consists of two chambers known as the House of Commons and the House of Lords. In reality, the House of Commons is the only one from the three which has true power. It is here that new bills are introduced and debated. If the majority of the members are in favour of a bill it goes to the House of Lords to be debated and finally to the monarch to be signed. Only then it does it become law.

 

Text 2. The House of Commons and the Electoral System

The House of Commons is made up of 650 elected members known as Members of Parliament (abbreviated to MPs), each of whom represents an area (or constituency) of the United Kingdom. The election campaign usually lasts about three weeks. Everyone over the age of 18can vote in an election, which is decided on a simple majority – the candidate with the most voices wins. Parliamentary elections must be held every five years.

 

Text 3. The House of Lords

The House of Lords has more than 1,000 members, although only about 250take an active part in the work of the House. There are 26 Anglican bishops, 950 hereditary peers, 11 judges and 185 life peers, and unlike MPs they don’t receive a salary. They debate a bill after it has been passed by the House of Commons. Changes may be recommended, and agreement between the two Houses is reached by negotiations.

 

III. Match the parts of these sentences correctly:

1. The Houses of parliament is the place where	a) the people of Britain can choose a new government
2. Each Prime Minister has a private home	b) at the Opening of parliament
3. After a period of five years (or sooner)	c) the political life of Britain is organized
4. The Government tells the Monarch which plans to announce	d) until they are 18 years old
5. To win the election, a candidate has to	e) as well as the residence in Downing Street
6. People are not allowed to vote	f) get more votes than any other single candidate

 

IV. Can you answer these questions?

1) What kind of state is Great Britain?

2) Who rules Britain officially? And unofficially?

3) Is the Queen’s power hereditary or elective?

4) What is the difference between the House of Lords and the House of Commons?

5) Which body has more powers: Parliament or the Government?

6) How many stages a bill must pass to become an Act of Parliament?

7) How often is the general election held in Great Britain?

8) What is the Government normally formed by?

 

V. Read the text paying attention to comments. Answer the questions that follow it in writing:

Political Parties of Great Britain

Britain has a two party system. From 1832 to 1918 the dominant parties were the Conservatives, or the Tories, on the one hand, and the Whigs, or Liberals, on the other. These opposing parties had commanded equal support since 1679. They called each other Whigs and Tories, both rude names, which they nevertheless readily adopted. The word “whig” comes from the word “whiggam” which was used by certain Scotsmen when driving their horses. The word “Tory” comes from the Irish language and means a lawless person, usually an Irish Catholic plunderer (of English property in occupied Ireland). The Whigs were the great landowners and wealthy merchants. They were committed to the idea of Parliament’s supremacy over the Crown. The Tories represented to a great extent the smaller landowners and the country squires. In 1827-1832 the two leading parties themselves went through a period of radical reform and adopted new names: Conservative Party and Liberal Party. The difference between Whigs and Tories was demonstrated by their attitude towards the reigning house; that between Liberals and Conservatives by their attitude towards domestic reforms. The formation of the Labour Party at the beginning of the 20^th century was a victory of the labour movement. But Labour Government showed no radical change in policy from Tories. From the very beginning there were two main trends within the party - the left socialist trend represented by party’s rank-and-file members, and the right-wing trend represented by the party’s top leadership. In fact, it is sometimes difficult to tell the difference between the Labour and the Conservative parties. The Labour Party backed by trade unions replaced the Liberals, and since 1924 the political scene has been dominated by the Conservative and the Labour parties. The present day political scene is a combination of various political parties: the Conservatives, the Labour, the Social-Democratic Party, the Liberals and the Communists. The membership and parliamentary representation of the Liberal Party today is almost insignificant, although it does play a certain role in tipping the scales³ between the two largest parties: the Labour and the Conservative. The main way in which people exert influence over government is through political parties. These parties organize opinion on national issues, formulating policies which they feel will meet the wishes of as many people as possible.

to command equal support - пользоваться равной (одинаковой) поддержкой rude – грубый l awless (person) – человек, находящийся вне закона plunderer – вор, грабитель be committed (to the idea) – посвятить себя; быть приверженцем supremacy – превосходство squire – a man who owned land in England in the past and had a high status in the local area (сквайр) rank-and-file – рядовой (член организации) trade unions – тред-юнионы; профсоюзы to tip the scale (s) – склонить чашу весов; решить исход дела to exert influence over = to influence

1) What are the main political parties in Great Britain?

2) What are the dominant parties in modern Britain?

3) What is the role of the Liberal party today?

4) There is little difference between the Labour and the Conservative policies, isn’t there?

5) What is the ruling party in Great Britain now?

VI. Read the text with a dictionary:

The British Monarchy

The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy. This means that it has a monarch (a King or a Queen) as its Head of State. The monarch reigns with the agreement of Parliament. The powers of the monarch are not defined precisely. Everything today is done in the Queen’s name. It is “Her Majesty’s” government, “Her Majesty’s” armed forces, “Her Majesty’s” law courts and so on. She officially appoints all the Ministers, including the Prime Minister. Everything is done, however, on the advice of the elected Government, and the Monarch takes no part in the decision-making process.

From the very early times the English monarchs were waging centuries wars to conquest on the Welsh, the Scots and the Irish for the “unification” with these originally separate and independent kingdoms. Wales was won by military force so long ago that a direct tradition to Welsh independence can hardly be spoken about. Scotland, after centuries of bloodshed conflicts, was united to England dynastically and peacefully, while Ireland was both conquered and colonized with expropriation and discrimination. Ireland’s history has been and still is the main source of many problems.

Once the British Empire included a large number of countries all over the world. It had been being built for three centuries, achieved its maximum between 1921 and 1939 and collapsed in some twenty years after the Second World War. Now there is no longer Empire. But the British ruling classes tried not to lose influence over the former colonies. An association of former members of the British Empire and Britain was founded in 1949. It is called the Commonwealth. It includes many countries such as Ireland, Burma, the Sudan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and others. The Queen of Great Britain is also the Head of the Commonwealth, and so the Queen of Canada, Australia, New Zealand. The Queen is very rich, as are other members of the Royal Family. In addition the government pays for her expenses as Head of State, for a royal yacht, train and airplane (aircraft) as well as for the upkeep of several palaces. The Queen’s image appears on stamps, notes and coins.

The Commonwealth is a free association of 50 sovereign independent states that were once a part of the British Empire. The British Monarchy is one of the world’s monarchies, with an almost unbroken line of Kings and Queens stretching back to at least the 9^th century. Since the 9^th century there has been only one short interruption in the history of the Monarchy. In 1642 a Civil War began in England, and in 1649 King Charles I was defeated by a parliamentary army led by Oliver Cromwell and he was executed. Britain remained a republic only 11 years; in 1660 the son of executed Charles I, Charles II, was restored to the throne and Britain has remained a monarchy ever since.

Queen Elizabeth II was born on April 21, 1926. She came to the throne on February 6, 1952. Her coronation took place in Westminster Abbey on June 2, 1953 and was the first coronation to be televised throughout the world.

Queen Elizabeth has 4 children. The eldest son is Prince Charles, who is qualified as Royal Air Force pilot and is now Prince of Wales and heir to the throne. Princess Anne, now the Princess Royal, represents Britain in horse riding at the Olympic games and is a member of the International Olympic Committee. Prince Andrew, now the Duke of York, is serving a naval officer and Prince Edward has worked in the theatre. Most of Europe’s other ruling families were related to Queen Victoria. Alexandra, wife of the last Russian tsar, Nicolas II, was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Tsar Nicolas’ aunt, his mother’s sister, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna, married Queen Victoria’s son. Queen Elizabeth and her husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, are both great-great grandchildren of Queen Victoria.

 

Comments Commonwealth, the – an organization of countries that used to be under the political control of the UK. It is also known as the Commonwealth of Nations or the British Commonwealth.

VII. Some people think that the monarchy should be abolished because it has no power and costs the State a lot of money to maintain. How useful do you think the monarchy is in the U. K. today? (to be done in writing)

VIII. Read the text with a dictionary:

 

The British Constitution

Great Britain is not a federation, or a union of states like the USA. There are no written laws, no written constitution. A thousand years ago, before the Norman Conquest in 1066, the Anglo-Saxon kings consulted the Great Council (an assembly of the leading men from each district) before taking important decisions. Between 1066 and 1215 the king ruled alone, but in 1215 the nobles forced King John to accept Magna Carta (the Great Charter), which took away some of the king’s powers. In later centuries, this was seen as the first occasion on which this was forced to take advice. In 1264 the first parliament of nobles met together. Since then the British Constitution has grown up slowly as the result of countless acts of Parliament. There have been no great changes in the Constitution since the revolution of 1688. Then, Parliament invited William and Mary to become Britain’s first constitutional Monarchs. A constitutional monarch is one who can rule only with the support of Parliament. The Bill of Rights (1689) was the first legal step towards Constitutional monarchy. This Bill prevented the monarch from making laws or having an army without Parliament’s approval. Since 1689 the power of Parliament has grown, while the power of the Monarch has become weaker. The reform acts of 1832, 1867 and 1884 gave the vote to a large number of common citizens. Today every man and woman aged 18 has the right to vote. For the last fifty years the political scene has been controlled by the Conservative and Labour Parties. The party in power determines the home and foreign policy of the country. In practice, the Sovereign reigns but does not rule, and the UK is governed by the Government – a body of Ministers who are the leading members of the political Party in power and who are responsible to Parliament. The people of Great Britain are law-abiding.

IX. Try to make a back translation:

Великобритания является монархией, но власть королевы не абсолютная, а конституционная. Полномочия королевы ограничены парламентом. Парламент – законодательный орган Великобритании. Он располагается в Вестминстерском дворце на берегу реки Темзы, в самом сердце Лондона. Кроме двух главных палат – палаты лордов и палаты общин – во дворце целый лабиринт канцелярий, библиотек, помещений для заседаний различных комитетов, ресторанов, кафетериев. В этом же комплексе и башня, на верху которой находятся знаменитые часы Биг Бен. Поблизости, на улице Уайтхол, расположены здания главных министерств, а по соседству с ними – официальная резиденция премьер-министра на Даунинг Стрит. Премьер-министр обычно является лидером партии, которая имеет большинство в палате общин. Крупнейшие политические партии – консервативная, лейбористская и либерально-демократическая.

В отличие от большинства других стран в Британии нет письменной конституции. Существующая парламентская система, которая непрерывно развивается, основывается на множестве отдельных законов, прецедентов, обычаев. Постановление парламента не может стать законом без согласия монарха, правда, в таком согласии не было отказано ни разу с 1707 года.

Члены верхней палаты – палаты лордов – не избираются всеобщим голосованием. В нее входят епископы англиканской церкви, представители наследственной аристократии – эти группы заседали в парламенте со времени его основания. Кроме них, в палату лордов входят некоторые верховные судьи (их называют «судебные лорды»), которые стали заседать в палате лордов с конца прошлого века, а также возникшая в 1958 году категория «пожизненных пэров», представляющая собой бывших членов палаты общин или других выдающихся людей, проявивших себя в различных сферах общественной жизни. Считается, что всего в стране 1100 лордов, но в заседаниях регулярно участвуют около 270 человек.

В палате общин 650 избираемых членов парламента. Партия, имеющая большее число мест в палате общин, формирует правительство. Наиболее важные министерские посты обычно занимают члены палаты общин. Партия, обладающая самым большим числом мест после правящей, именуется «Официальной оппозицией». Представителем палаты общин является Спикер, сидящий на специальном возвышении и облаченный традиционно в парик и черную мантию. Спикер должен быть беспристрастным в своих суждениях и не принимать сторону ни одной из партий.

Члены парламента от правящей партии сидят по правую руку от Спикера, а члены оппозиции – по левую. В первом ряду сидят министры и члены так называемого «теневого кабинета» - представители официальной оппозиции.

Парламент заседает круглый год, прерывая работу только на короткие периоды во время праздников и на более длительные летние каникулы. На официальных открытиях парламентских сессий королева зачитывает речь.

Законодательная процедура чрезвычайно сложна. Чтобы билль прошел все стадии обсуждения и утверждения и стал законом, может потребоваться более двух лет. Когда палата общин принимает решение об окончательной формулировке законопроекта, он поступает в палату лордов. Если лорды решат, внести изменения, то законопроект должен вернуться в палату общин для окончательного согласования. Когда-то лорды обладали правом накладывать вето на любое законодательное решение нижней палаты, но теперь они могут лишь замедлить процедуру. Только после утверждения обеими палатами законопроект поступает на подпись королеве и становится законом.

Если билль не успел пройти все стадии и не стал законом до того, как закончилась парламентская сессия, на следующей сессии все начинается сначала. Особенно уязвимы в этом отношении частные билли, ждущие своей очереди после биллей правительства.

X. Read the text and render it in Russian:

Prince of Wales

The story of the title goes back to the conquest of Wales by Edward I who had conquered Wales in 1284. Great leaders of the nation had been killed, but the Welsh, though they had been beaten, were rebellious. The chiefs of the conquered nation came to Edward and said that they wanted to be ruled not by an English king but by the Prince of Wales, born in Wales of royal blood and not speaking English or French. They wanted a prince whose life had been good and who hadn’t wronged any man. After a little thought Edward told them to ask all the chiefs and their followers to come to his castle in a week’s time and he promised to give them what they had asked for – a Prince of Wales who satisfied all their conditions.

The next week the square outside the castle was crowded with excited people. From the balcony of the castle Edward I addressed the crowd: “People of Wales! You wanted a Prince of Wales! Here is your Prince – born in Wales a week ago. He is a native-born prince of royal blood. He cannot speak English or French. He has wronged no man. Promise to obey him!”

Since then the title the “Prince of Wales” is conferred to the eldest son of the Royal Family of Great Britain.

 

 

UNIT 2

LONDON

Introductory text

London Overview

When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life: for there is in London all that life can afford -, wrote Samuel Johnson in 1777. He would recognize many of the great sights on both sides of the Thames, which winds its way downstream from the Windsor and Hampton Court, past Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedra l, the Tower, and on down to Greenwich and the sea.

When H. G. Wells wrote in 1911 that “ London is the most interesting beautiful and wonderful city in the world to me ”, horse drawn carriages and Edwardian splendour were on their way out.

The 20^th century was about to enforce dramatic changes on the London skyline – skyscrapers in the City, the Telecom Tower, an arts center on the South Bank and arising now, Docklands, the business center for the 21^st century.

Yet London, the world’s capital, has kept its heart. Johnson would still be able to drink coffee in Covent Garden, or meander through the City’s narrow streets to churches and livery companies with echoes of Medieval days. H.G. Wells might, today, listen to debates in the Houses of Parliament, attend a concert in the Albert Hall or listen to a military band in a royal park. Today London is a sprawling, cosmopolitan metropolis, about 1600 square km, an exciting world which many visitors from abroad see first from the sky, surprised that the ribbon-like Thames is so curvaceous and a score of bridges so decorative. Down there, seven million people are at home, not in anonymous suburbs but in the Cities of London and Westminster and in districts which have remnants of their countrified past, in Marylebone and Kensington, Hampstead and Highgate with their own high streets and historic monuments remembering famous men and women who built a London which each generation discovers anew. Documented history goes back to the time when Westminster was still a marsh. The Romans had inhabited the land which became the City, building a bridge across the Thames by AD 60 and creating a celebrated center of commerce filled with traders. Westminster, established as a royal palace shortly before the invasion of William the Conqueror in 1066, gradually grew in importance as it became the seat of government, beside the Thames and next door to Westminster Abbey a couple of minutes from the City. Big Ben, the voice of London, has been telling the time to the second since 1859. Construction of the 96 m clock tower began in the year Queen Victoria came to the throne, 1837, as part of the reconstruction of the Houses of Parliament following the devastating fire of 1834. Clock designer, Sir Edmund Grimthorpe, the architect and clockmaker all died before the 13 ½ ton bell was mounted behind the four clock faces, which each measure 7 m in diameter.

The Great Bell cracked, was recast and cracked again, giving us the famous, flawed, resonating boom. Why Big Ben? There are two answers – either can be chosen. It could have been named after Sir Benjamin Hall, chief commissioner of works at that time, and a Welshman of great girth. Or, perhaps, it was named by workmen who brought the bell from Whitechapel Foundry on a cart pulled by 16 white horses. Their hero of the day was Benjamin Caunt, a 17 stone prize fighter.

 

I. Read the text using a dictionary and translate it into Russian. The following comments may be useful to you:

livery company - «ливрейная компания» (одна из 83 гильдий лондонского Сити. Такие гильдии возникли в средние века; их члены имеют особую форму одежды для торжественных церемоний)

countrified – имеющий деревенский вид

high streets – ровные прямые улицы

William the Conqueror – Вильгельм Завоеватель, герцог Нормандский, под предводительством которого в 1066 году норманны завоевали Англию; стал английским королем Вильгельмом I

flawed resonating boom – вызванный трещиной резонирующий гул

commissioner – специальный уполномоченный; член комиссии

girth – размер в обхвате

Whitechappel Foundry – литейный цех в Уайтчепеле (одном из беднейших районов Ист-Энда)

stone – стоун (мера веса, равная 6,35 кг)

prize fighter – профессиональный боксер

 

II. What impression does this text make on you? What is the main idea of it?

III. What do you know about Samuel Johnson and H. G. Wells?

IV. Explain why London is called “ a sprawling cosmopolitan metropolis”. What do the words “cosmopolitan” and “metropolis” mean?

V. Why, in your opinion, the names of Julius Caesar, William the Conqueror and Queen Victoria are mentioned first among “famous men and women who built a London which each generation discovers anew”?

VI. State the field of knowledge to which the text belongs.