Section II. Reading material

TEXT A. MONARCHY IN BRITAIN

Task: read the text; translate it into Russian in written form.

Great Britain is a monarchy, but the Queen of Britain is not absolute but constitutional. Her powers are limited by the Parliament. The Parliament is the supreme legislative authority in Britain. Queen's power is hereditory and not elective.

In practice the Monarch has no actual power: they say¹ the Monarch reigns but does not rule. The Prime Minister is the virtual ruler of the country. The Prime Minister is usually the leader of the party that obtains a majority in the House of Commons. That party which has majority of seats in the House of Commons is called the Government and the other is the Opposition. The leader of the party in the opposition occupies a salaried office of the Leader of the Opposition. The Government may hold office for five years.

All the affairs of the state are conducted in the name of the Queen, but really the Prime Minister is responsible for every measure submitted to Parliament.

The Queen summons, prorogues and dissolves Parliament². Normally she opens each session with a speech from the throne outlining the Government's programme. It is her duty to make appointments to all important state offices, including those of judges, officers in the armed forces, diplomats. She must, in theory at least, see all Cabinet documents. The Queen has the power to conclude treaties, to declare war and make peace.

The Queen has her own Privy Council³. The Cabinet developed from this Council, which used to be body of advisers of English monarchs. As the system of Cabinet developed the Privy Council declined in importance. The Privy Council consists of members of the royal family, the archbishops⁴, colonial governors and senior ministers. There are about 300 of them altogether. The committee of the Privy Council, the Judicial Committee, however, is the final court of appeal for the British — a Royal court.

Queen Elizabeth II came to the throne in 1952 after the death of her father, King George VI. She has four children: one daughter and 3 sons. The Queen's heir is Charles, Prince of Wales. He was born in 1948, educated in Cambridge, served in the Royal Navy⁵. Now he is involved in various aspects of public life, in particular industry and government.

The Royal family is the principal aristocratic house in Britain, closely connected with other members of the hereditory aristocracy and with big finance interests. The Queen is known to be among the wealthiest women in the world.

Notes:

1 they say- говорят

2 summons, prorogues and dissolves Parliament- созывает, прерывает и

распускает парламент

3 Privy Council- Тайный совет

4 archbishops- архиепископы

5 Royal Navy- Королевский флот, ВМС Великобритании

 

Exercises

I. Read the international words and guess their meaning. Mind the

Stress.

‘ monarchy ‘absolute ‘parliament

‘ industry ‘ practice ‘leader

‘ Prime ‘ Minister ‘ documents ‘throne

‘ programme ‘ officers ‘ judge

‘ theory ‘ cabinet consti’tutional

‘ public ‘ office com’mitee

‘ final ‘aspect oppo’sition

 

II. Memorize the following pairs of derivatives:

N-Adj V-N

constitution-constitutional govern-government

practice-practical appoint-appointment

monarchy-monarchical oppose-opposition

theory-theoretical limit-limitation

industry-industrial conclude-conclusion

office-official develop-development

 

III. Transform as in the models:

M o d e l 1: to elect MPs – election of MPs

to limit powers; to dissolve the Parliament; to appoint officers; to declare

war; to conclude a treaty; to develop the policy.

M o d e l 2: powers of the Queen – Queen’s powers

heir of the Queen; decision of the Cabinet; functions of the Prime Minister;

decisions of the committee; prerogative of the Monarch.

M o d e l 3: members of the Cabinet – the Cabinet members

programme of the party; workers of the office; documents of the

Government; offices of the state; court of appeal.