Read and translate the text. The House of Lords is the upper Chamber of British Parliament
The House of Lords is the upper Chamber of British Parliament. The members of the House of Lords are not elected. The House of Lords is the only non-elected chamber of Parliament in the world. It consists of 830 Lords Temporal and 26 Lords Spiritual (2 of which are archbishops of Canterbury and York, the rest are senior bishops of the Church of England). Lords Temporal are Lords by the right of inheritance (hereditary peers), 270 members are given life peerage (life peers). 1/4 of life peers are women, Margaret Thatcher was among them. The total number of the Lords is more than 1,000.
The Queen belongs to the House of Lords so there is a throne in the Lords' Chamber from where she makes her State Opening Speech.
There is also a woolsack –a large bag of wool covered with red cloth which is the seat of the Lord Chancellor who presides in the House of Lords and is its chairman. The House of Lords is represented by people of different grades of nobility: dukes, viscounts and barons.
The House of Lords is of Tory majority. The members of the chamber are largely company directors, landlords, bankers, steel and oil magnates, newspaper proprietors and so on. Its main function is to defend the interests of the propertied people, to criticize the Labour Government, to delay, amend or bury the bills which went contrary to their interests. For its conservative character it is often called "the House of obstruction" or "a hangover from a past age".
The main function of the upper Chamber, the House of Lords, is to examine and revise bills from the Commons. But the Lords cannot reject a bill. They can only delay it for a maximum of one year. Financial bills (i. e. bills related to money) cannot be delayed by the House of Lords. If the Lords approve a bill it is sent to the Queen for signature.
John Tucker Mugabi Sentamu [séntámû]; born 10 June 1949) is the 97th Archbishop of York, Metropolitan of the province of York and Primate of England. The position of Archbishop of York is the second most senior clerical position in the Church of England after that ofArchbishop of Canterbury, Primate of All England.
Justin Portal Welby (born 6 January 1956) is the 105th and current Archbishop of Canterbury and senior bishop in the Church of England.[5] As such, he is Primate of All England and the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion. He was formerly the Bishop of Durham, serving for just over a year.
Christopher Stephen Grayling (born 1 April 1962) is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice since 2012.
2.Give the English equivalents to the Russian words and phrases:верхняя палата, по праву наследования, землевладелец, владельцы газет, отстаивать интересы класса имущих людей, пережиток прошлого.
3.Fill in the gaps using the words below:
preside, non-elected chamber, to examine and revise, the House of Lords, upper chamber.
a) The House of Lords is the _______of British Parliament.
b)The House of Lords is the only ________of Parliament in the world.
c) The Queen belongs to the _______.
d) The Lord Chancellor _______in the House of Lords.
f) The main function of the upper Chamber, the House of Lords, is _______bills from the Commons.
4.Give the definitions to the following words:
- Lords Temporal are…
- A woolsack is…
- The Lord Chancellor is…
- Financial bills are…
5.What do the following numbers refer to?:2, 270, 1/4, 830, 1,000, 26.
6.Answer the following questions:
a)Whom does the House of Lords consist of?
b)How many women are there in the House?
c)What class of people makes the House of Lords?
d)What are the functions of the chamber?
7. Divide into 2 groups and make presentations about the Houses of British Parliament: the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
Unit IV