Exercise 10. Answer the question on text 1.
1. What kind of monarchy is Great Britain?
2. Is the Queen’s power hereditary or elective?
3. Who is the virtual ruler of the country?
4. What are the functions of the Queen of Britain?
5. The Privy Council consists of 300 members, doesn’t it?
6. What is the final court of appeal in Britain?
Exercise 11. Read text 2 and translate it into Russian in written form.
TEXT 2. GOVERNMENT IN BRITAIN
Effective power belongs to the Government, which is part of Parliament and responsible to it, but which also normally dominates it. The Government consists of about a hundred politicians under the Prime Minister. Members of the Government are not elected by the House of Commons. They are nominated by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister may also require ministers to resign. A modern government is arranged in about fifteen departments, each with its ministerial head. The number changes from time to time, as departments are split or joined together1. All the heads of departments are members of the House of Commons.
The executive power belongs to the Cabinet of Ministers. The Cabinet consists of 16 to 24 senior ministers whom the Prime Minister has appointed. Most ministers in the Cabinet are heads of departments. The Cabinet meets once a week in No 10 Downing Street, the official residence of the British Prime Minister. Cabinet-making2 is the most important part of a Prime Minister’s job. The Prime Minister decides which ministers will be included. In order that it can work as a team and arrive at decisions more easily and quickly the Cabinet is restricted to about twenty members.
The Cabinet formulates a comprehensive policy covering allmajor issues both at home and abroad. The Cabinet has to decideon important day-to-day issues as they arise, e.g. a major strike, arun on the sterling, political upheavals abroad. It must alsoconsider future policy. The policy decided upon by the Cabinet isimplemented by the various departments of state. The Cabinet isalso the Court of Appeal: This is presided over by the Lord ChiefJustice of Appeal, and a quorum is three judges.
Notes:
1 split or joined together – дробятся или соединяются
2 Cabinet-making – создание кабинета
Exercise 12. Answer the question on text 2.
1. Which body has more powers: Parliament or the Government?
2. How is the choice of the members of the Government exercised?
3. Is the number of Ministers in the Government constant?
4. What kind of state body is the Cabinet: executive, legislative, judicial?
Exercise 13. Read text 3 and translate it into Russian in written form.
TEXT 3. BRITISH PARLIAMENT
The legislative power resides in Parliament, which, strictly speaking1, consists of the Sovereign, the House of Commons and the House of Lords2.
There are 635 members of the English House of Commons, or MPs as they are usually called. They are elected by popular vote and represent the counties and borough constituencies. The House of Commons seems to have most of power within Parliament. It is here that the Government is formed. The Prime Minister is usually the leader of that party which has majority in the House of Commons. Any member of the House may introduce a Bill. The maximum life of the House of Commons has been restricted3 to 5 years since the Parliament Act 1911.
Each session of Parliament is usually opened in the House of Lords. The House of Lords, or the Upper House4, consists of hereditary and life peers and top church officials. In the full House of Lords there are some 650 members. The House of Lords is not an elective body. The House of Lords like the Monarch has now lost most of its powers and cannot influence the process of decision-making5 in Parliament. In practice, the powers of the House of Lords have been truncated6 to limited revising and delaying functions. It is the House of Commons which is the dominant part of the legislature. The Lords and the Commons began to meet separately some five centuries ago. The House of Lords consists of the Lords «Spiritual and Temporal»7. The Lords Spiritual are the two archbishops8 (Canterbury and York) and twenty-four bishops of the Church of England. The Lords Temporal include peers by hereditary right, peers by virtue of their office (the Law Lords), and Life peers created under the Life Peerage Act, 1958.
Notes:
1 strictly speaking - строго говоря
2 the Sovereign, the House of Commons and the House of Lords — монарх, палата общин и палата лордов
3 to restrict — ограничивать
4 Upper House — верхняя палата парламента
5 decision-making — принятие решений
6 to truncate — сокращать
7 the Lords «Spiritual and Temporal» — лорды духовные и светские
8 archbishops – архиепископы