V. Reading and comprehension

Read and translate Text B

The Government of Great Britain

Great Britain is a parliamentary monarchy. Officially the head of the state is the Queen. She is an integral part of the legislature and the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The power of the Queen in Britain is not absolute but constitutional. She acts only on the advice of the ministers, her powers are limited by Parliament.

The legislative power is vested in the Queen and Parliament made up of two Houses – the House of Lords and the House of Commons, the supreme legislative body. The British Parliament exists since 1265. It is the oldest Parliament in the world. The House of Lords is a non-elected chamber. The titles and seats are inherited there. The House of Commons is a nation-wide representative body. It is elected by a universal suffrage, which was introduced in 1918. The Commons has 650 elected Members of Parliament (MPs). They are granted a salary for their parliamentary work. They are elected by the general election, which is to be held every 5 years.

There is no written constitution in the country. The term “English Constitution” means the leading principles, conventions, laws and statutes. The British constitution does not provide written guarantees of individual political rights.

As a rule the Prime Minister is the leader of the party that has won the election and has the majority in the House of Commons. The Prime Minister appoints the ministers to compose the government. The ministers who have gained the confidence of the Prime Minister are presented to the monarch for the formal approval. Thus the Cabinet is formed. It is presided over by the Prime Minister and controls and runs the national affairs. About 20 ministers are in the Cabinet – the senior group takes major policy decisions. The second largest party forms the official Opposition, with its own leader and “shadow cabinet”. The Opposition has a duty to criticize government policies and to present an alternative program.

 

Exercise 1. Give Ukrainian equivalents for the following:

- to belong

- parliamentary work

- the head of the government

- written guarantee

- to form the cabinet

- to act on the advice of the ministers

- to gain the confidence

- formal approval

- tribunal

 

Exercise 2. Give English equivalents for the following:

- державні справи

- законодавча влада

- призначати платню

- верховна влада

- збройні сили

- глава системи правосуддя

- повноваження королеви

- обмежені парламентом

- представник держави

- пряме голосування

 

Exercise 3. Agree or disagree with the following statements

1. The Prime Minister presides over the Cabinet

2. The Parliament limits the powers of the Queen.

3. The Cabinet is headed by the Queen.

4. The Queen and the Parliament exercise the legislative power.

5. The seats in the House of Lords are not inherited.

6. The universal suffrage was introduced in 1928.

7. The power of the Queen in Britain is Absolute.

 

Exercise 4. Answer the following questions:

1. What kind of state is Great Britain?

2. Who is officially the head of state?

3. What is the structure of the political system of Great Britain?

4. In whose hands is the legislative power in Great Britain?

5. What is the body of the legislative power?

6. What does the term “English Constitution” mean?

7. What kind of Parliament has Great Britain?

8. When was the British Parliament formed?

9. Who usually becomes the Prime Minister?

10. How often are general election held?

11. Who is the head of the Government?

12. How many chambers are there in the British Parliament?

13. What are the functions of the Parliament?

 

 

VI. Practice

Exercise 5. Study the chart “Great Britain” (Parliamentary Monarchy and Political Parties) and discuss information in the form of questions and answers.

VII. Practice

Exercise 1. Role play the following situations:

Situation1. You are invited to take part in the discussion about Great Britain. Make a report on political life of the country. Describe your own impressions of visiting Great Britain. Be ready to answer students questions.

Situation 2. You are in the plane flying from Ukraine to Great Britain. Ask the guide questions on rivers, mountains, lakes, natural resources, industrial centres of Great Britain.

Usefull expressions: You should see – Вам треба було б подивитись … May I give you some suggestions? - Можна я дам вам кілька пропозицій? I’d like to give you a piece of advice – Я б хотів дати вам невелику пораду. Most willingly – охоче; I’d be grateful for your advice – був би вдячний за вашу пораду; Is it worth seeing? – Варто подивитись? Really? – дійсно.

 

VIII. Reading

Listen to the text C. Be sure that you know the following words and word combinations.

aircraft – літак, авіація

aero-engine manufacturers – виробники авіадвигунів

branch – галузь

domestic demand - внутрішній попит

electroengineering – електроніка

hosiery – трикотаж

knitted wear – в’язані вироби

machine tool industry – верстатобудівна промисловість

non-ferrous metals – кольорові метали

raw-material – сировина

rural – сільський

synthetic fibre – синтетичне волокно

satellite – супутник

vital part - істотна роль

 

Text C

Great Britain is known to be a highly developed industrial country. There are so-called “old” branches of industry which appeared in the period of industrial revolution and “modern” branches that appeared only after the Second World War.

Coal-mining is said to be a traditional, “old” branch of industry. It is to be found in Wales, in the Cumberland Mountains, in the south of Scotland, and in the northern part of England.

Metal industry, including production of steel and non-ferrous metals such as aluminium and other colour metals, is known to have been developing in Scotland, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Sheffield, in Wales and other areas of the country.

Britain’s chemical industry is the third largest in Europe. Nearly half of its production is exported. Natural gas is known to be a good raw material for chemical industry. Chemical industry, especially production of synthetic fibres and plastics, is being developed on a large scale in Wales, in Liverpool, in the mouth of the Thames, in Scotland, in the south of England.

Engineering is the main branch of industry in Great Britain. Britain is the Western world’s largest producer of agricultural tractors, many of which are exported. London, Birmingham, Coventry are known to be the most important centres of motor-car construction. The Greater London, Bristol are the leading centres of aviation industry. The British aerospace industry is the third largest in the world. Its products include civil and military aircraft and satellites. Rolls-Royce is one of the world’s three largest aero-engine manufacturers. Glasgow, Newcastle, Belfast are the biggest ship-building centres.

Among the modern branches are electroengineering, electronic, machine-tool industries which can be found in the Greater London, Leeds, Sheffield, Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool and many other big and little towns of Great Britain. Halifax is known to be a machine-tool construction centre producing equipment for electric power industry.

Textile industry with the centres in Yorkshire and Landshire is considered to be one of the oldest in Great Britain. The clothing industry, one of the largest in Europe, meets about two-thirds of domestic demand and the woolen industry is one of the world’s largest.

Light industry and first of all clothing, footwear, knitting wear and hosiery are developed in Leeds, Nottingham, Manchester, London, Glasgow, Belfast. Light industry goods are of good qualty.

Nottingham, Lester and Derby are known to be the most important centres of footwear industry. Many enterprises of food industry are situated in the large industrial centres such as London, Belfast, Liverpool, Bristol as well as in other centres and also in some rural areas.

Britain has an open economy in which international trade plays a vital part. About one-quarter of its domestic product comes from the export of goods and services.

 

IX. Comprehension.