Study the words which are often used when making telephone calls.

To hold on/to hang on–to wait

To hang up/to ring off–to put the telephone down

To ring up–to make a phone call

To pick up the phone (to pick the phone up)–to answer a call when the phone rings

To put someone through–to connect somebody's call to anoth­er telephone

To get through–to contact on the telephone the person you want to talk to

To call someone back–to return a phone call

Study the words!

to dial	1.набирать номер, звонить
to look in	2.заглянуть к кому-л.
diary	3.ежедневник
fortnight	4.две недели

 

Read and act out dialogues.

Michelle:	Hello, you've reached the marketing department. How can I help?
Male:	Yes, can I speak to Rosalind Wilson, please?
Michelle:	Who's calling please?
Male:	It's Richard Davies here.
Michelle	Certainly. Please, hold on and I'll put you through.
Male:	Thank you.

Michelle:	Hello, marketing. How can I help?
Male:	Could I speak to Jason Roberts, please?
Michelle:	Certainly. Who shall I say is calling?
Male:	My name's Mike Andrews.
Michelle	Just a second–I'll see if he's in. Hello, Jason, I've got Mike Andrews on the phone for you... OK, I'll put him through. Hang on a moment, I'm just putting you through.

Claire:	Hello, finance department.
Female:	Hello, can I speak to Adrian Hopwood, please?
Claire	I'm afraid he's in a meeting at the moment. Can I help?
Female:	No, I need to talk to Mr. Hopwood, I think. What time will he be out of the meeting?
Claire:	In about an hour. Can you call back later?
Female:	Okay, I'll do that.
Claire:	Or can I take a message?
Female:	Actually, would you mind? Could you tell him that Jennifer McAndrews called and that I'm in the office all day if he could call me back
Claire:	Can I take your number, please?
Female:	Yes, it's 5556872.
Claire:	5556872. Okay, I'll make sure he gets the message.
Female:	Thanks very much for your help, bye!
Claire:	Goodbye!

Male:	Hello, this is the press office.
Michelle:	Rachel Allsop, please.
Male:	I'm sorry; you must have the wrong number. There's no one of that name here.
Michelle:	Oh. Can I check the number I've got.... Is that not 5568790?
Male:	No, it's 5558790.
Michelle:	Oh sorry about that. I must have dialed the wrong number.
Male:	No problem! Bye

Male:	Hello, press office, can I help you?
Ruth:	Hello. Paul Richards, please.
Male:	I'm sorry, you've got the wrong number, but he does work here. I'll try and put you through. In future his direct number is 5558770.
Ruth:	Did I not dial that?
Male:	No, you rang 5558790.
Ruth:	Oh, sorry to have troubled you.
Male:	No problem. Hang on a moment and I'll put you through to Paul's extension.
Ruth:	Thanks.

Michelle:	Mr. Hibberd's office!
Peter:	Hello, can I speak to Brian Hibberd, please?
Michelle:	I'm afraid he's in a meeting until lunchtime. Can I take a message?
Peter:	Well, I'd like to arrange an appointment to see him, please. It's Peter Jefferson here.
Michelle:	Could you hold on for a minute, Mr Jefferson. I'll just look in the diary. So when's convenient for you?
Peter:	Sometime next week if possible. I gather he's away the following week.
Michelle:	Yes, that's right, he's on holiday for a fortnight.
Peter:	Well, I need to see him before he goes away. So would next Wednesday be Okay?
Michelle:	Wednesday... let me see... he's out of the office all morning. But he's free in the afternoon, after about three.
Peter:	Three o'clock is difficult. But I could make it after four.
Michelle:	So shall we say 4.15 next Wednesday, in Mr. Hib­berd's office?
Peter:	Yes, that sounds fine. Thanks very much.
Michelle:	Okay, then. Bye.

ТЕМА № 19 SEPARATION OF POWERS

Word List

to coin	выдумывать
enlightenment	просвещение
judiciary	судебная власть; законный, судебный
the court of law	суд, действующий по нормам статусного и общего права
to mingle	смешивать(ся); общаться с кем-л., собираться
restraint	ограничение, стеснение, сдерживание; лишение свободы
to induce	заставлять, побуждать, склонять, убеждать; вызывать, стимулировать, приводить; делать вывод
checks and balances	принцип взаимозависимости и взаимоограничения трех ветвей государственной власти
to enact	предписывать, определять, устанавливать, вводить закон; постановлять
to ratify	ратифицировать, одобрять, скреплять подписью
to veto	налагать вето
to promulgate	объявлять, провозглашать; опубликовывать, пропагандировать, распространять
to grant pardons	по(миловать); оставлять без наказания
to nullify	аннулировать, отменять
to compel	заставлять, вынуждать, принуждать
testimony	свидетельские показания; доказательство, довод, свидетельство
petitioner	проситель, податель петиции; истец
immune	в безопасности, защищенный, огражденный; пользующийся неприкосновенностью
threshold ['Orejhsuld]	порог; преддверие, начало, отправной пункт
convicted criminals	преступники, отбывающие наказание
abuse	злоупотребление, неправильное употребление
pending legislation	законодательство на рассмотрении, законопроект
election	выборы, избрание

Text 1

SEPARATION OF POWERS

Separation of powers, or «Trias Politica» – a term coined by French political Enlightenment thinker Baron de Montesquieu, is a model for the governance of democratic states. Montesquieu described division of political power between an executive, a legislature, and a judiciary. He based this model on the British constitutional system, in which he perceived a separation of powers between king, Parliament, and the courts of law. Subsequent writers have noted that this was mis­leading, since Great Britain had a very closely connected legislature and executive, with further links to the judiciary (though combined with judicial independence). But in Montesquieu's time, the political connection between Britain's Parliament and the king's Ministry was not as close as it would later become.

All democracies exist with an absolute separation of powers or an absolute lack of separation of powers. Nonetheless, some systems are clearly founded on the principle of separation of powers, while oth­ers are clearly based on a mingling of powers.

Each branch is able to place specified restraints on the powers ex­erted by the other branches. The US system refers to the branches as «branches of government,» while some systems use «government» to describe the executive.

To prevent one branch from becoming supreme, and to induce the branches to cooperate, governance systems employing a separation of powers typically are created with a system of «checks and balanc­es,» a term which, like separation of powers itself, is generally credit­ed to Montesquieu. Checks and balances refers to the various proce­dural rules that allow one branch to limit another, such as the au­thority of the president to veto legislation passed by Congress, or the power of Congress to alter the composition and jurisdiction of the federal courts.

Legislative	Executive	Judicial
1. writes and enacts laws; 2. enacts taxes, authorizes borrowing, and sets the budget; 3. usually has sole power to declare war; 4. may start investigations, especially against the executive branch; 5. often appoints the heads of the executive branch; 6. sometimes appoints judges. 7. ratifies treaties.	1. sometimes may veto laws; 2. may refuse to enforce certain laws (risking impeachment by the legislature); 3. may refuse to spend money allocated for certain purposes; 4. wages war (has operational command of the military); 5. makes decrees or declarations (for example, declaring a state of emergency) and promulgates lawful regulations and executive orders; 6. often appoints judges; 7. sometimes has power to grant pardons to convicted criminals.	1. determines which laws apply to any given case; 2. determines whether a law is unconstitutional; 3. has sole power to interpret the law and to apply it to particular disputes; 4. may nullify laws that conflict with a more important law or constitution; 5. determines the disposition of prisoners; 6. has power to compel testimony and the production of evidence; 7. enforces uniform policies in a top-down fashion via the appeals process, but gives discretion in individual cases to low-level judges (the amount of discretion depends upon the standard of review, determined by the type of case in question.); 8. may rule only in cases of an actual dispute brought between actual petitioners; 9. polices its own members; 10. is frequently immune to arbitrary dismissal by other branches

 

The theoretical independence of the executive and legislative branches is partly maintained by the fact that they are separately elected and are held directly accountable to the public. There are also judicial prohibitions against certain types of interference in each oth­ers' affairs. Judicial independence is maintained by life appointments of judges, with voluntary retirement, and a high threshold for remov­al by the legislature. In recent years, there have been accusations that the power to interpret the law is being misused (judicial activism) by some judges in the US.

The legal mechanisms constraining the powers of the three branches depend a great deal on the sentiment of the people. The sys­tem of checks and balances is also self-reinforcing. Potential abuse of power may be deterred, and the legitimacy and sustainability of any power grab is hindered by the ability of the other two branches to take corrective action; though they still must actually do so, there­fore accountability is not automatic. This is intended to reduce oppor­tunities for tyranny.

The press has been described as a «fourth power» because of its considerable influence over public opinion (which in turn affects the outcome of elections), as well as its indirect influence in the branch­es of government by, for example, its support or criticism of pend­ing legislation or policy changes. It has never, however, been a formal branch of government; nor have political philosophers suggested that it become one.

 

EXERCISES

1. Look through the list of the words in the box and make sure you know their meaning. Using the word-building elements make de­rivatives of the following words.

to separate	to retire	sustainable	procedure
to connect	to impeach	direct	active
to compose	to appoint	part	critic
to prohibit	accountable	constitution	form