3.Государственное устройство Великобритании

Translate the words given from the text and learn them by heart. Then make up as many sentences as you can.

1. a parliamentary monarchy

2. the head of the state

3. the Queen

4. the King

5. the power

6. to act

7. advice

8. Parliament

9. Constitution

10. Legislation

11. to provide political rights

12. the House of Lords

13. the House of Commons

14. to be elected by

15. body

16. to win the election

17. The Prime Minister

18. To appoint

19. to compose the government

20. to be founded in

21. the Conservative party

22. the Labour party.

23. Habeas Corpus Act -Хабеас Корпус ( английский закон 1679г. о неприкосновенности личности )

24. Magna Charta -Великая хартия вольностей (1215г.)

25. Bill of Rights - "Билль о правах"

26. Act of Parliament- акт парламента, парламентский закон

27. Judicature Acts - свод правил, регулирующих работу Верховного суда Англии

12. Read the text about Parliamentary monarchy. Guess the meaning of underlined words.

Great Britain is a parliamentary monarchy. Officially the head of the state is the Queen (or the King). But the Queen doesn’t have the absolute power. She has to act only on the advice of Parliament the ministers and. There is no written constitution in Great Britain.

There are some main documents such as “Bill of rights”, “Magna Charta” Habeas Corpus Act, Act of Parliament (which defines the position of the House of Lords, the Judicature Act). All these documents express the main principles of British Legislation which doesn’t provide written guarantees of individual political rights.

Parliament in Great Britain was created in 1265. It is the eldest Parliament in the world. It consists of two Houses — the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The House of Lords consists of 1000 peers who are not elected by the people. The House of Commons is a nation-wide representative body which is elected by the people at a general election once in 5 years. After the general election the Queen appoints the head of the government — the Prime Minister. Usually the Prime Minister is the leader of the party that has won the election. The Prime Minister appoints the ministers to compose the government.

There are two main political parties in Great Britain: the Conservative party and the Labour party. The Conservative party came into being in the 19th century as a result of the evolution of the Tory party. The Labour party was founded in 1900. Since 1906 it has borne the name of the Labour Party. For the first time the Labour Party won the election in 1945.

Great Britain is one of the main industrial countries with developed industry. Machine-building, ship-building, metal­lurgy, electronics are the main industries in Great Brtitain.

4. Монархия и Королева

Read the texts about the British Queen for more information about Great Britain.

'By the sudden death of my dear father I am called upon to assume the duties and responsibility of sovereignty. '

These were the words of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in her simple yet moving Accession Speech of 8 February 1952, just 36 hours after she had learnt that her father King George VI had died in his sleep. So, at the age of 25, Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, the first child of Prince Albert and Elizabeth, Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth) became the forty-second sovereign of England since William the Conqueror, yet only its sixth Queen Regnant.

The Queen's Working Day

When The Queen is in residence at Buckingham Palace, every day is a work­ing day, both for her and for the Duke of Edinburgh. They meet for a quick break­fast at half-past eight when they will dis­cuss each other's daily programme but, unless they have joint engagements, they frequently do not see each other again until late evening. By 9.30 am Her Majesty is at her desk ready to start the day's routine

A digest of the day's newspapers will have been prepared for her by the Press Secretary with items of particular interest 1 marked or cut out. When Parliament is sit­ting, a report on the previous day's pro­ceedings will have been delivered by the Vice-Chamberlain of the Household.

One of Her Majesty's three Private Secretaries will then arrive with the morning's post. Letters from children are usually passed to one of the ladies-in-waiting for a reply and certain official correspondence may be sent on to the appropriate government department for action. But there are always plenty that require her own attention. Another fre­quent duty of The Queen is the sending of around 2,000 cen­tenary telemessages each year to people who reach their hun­dredth birthday.

Throughout the working day a number of visitors will call ranging from incom­ing or outgoing diplomats to Her Majesty's dressmakers, who may arrive to discuss the wardrobe for a forthcom­ing overseas tour.

Once a month a meeting of the Privy Council is held in order that the Royal Assent may be given to various items of government legislation. At the end of the morning Her Majesty usually lunches alone and then in the afternoon she will often have an engage­ment in the London area. On her return she may well hold important domestic discussions with the Master of the Household, for Her Majesty is not only the Sovereign but also mistress of the house - the largest house in the country. Towards the end of the day there is always another pile of official papers, government documents and reports to be read, initialled or acted upon.

ROYAL TRAVEL

The Queen has occupied the throne for over 40 years and has travelled more widely than any other British monarch. Every year she undertakes at least two major overseas State Visits, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, with short­er official tours in between, such as visiting Normandy in 1994 for the fiftieth anniversary of the D-Day landings.

H er Majesty (HM) has made great use of the Royal Yacht Britannia, which was launched by her in 1953, the year of the coronation, and which has since travelled over 1,000,000 miles. Britannia has served as a royal residence and a setting for official entertainment by The Queen and members of the Royal Family, and has also been used for the promotion of British commercial interests overseas.

The Royal Yacht has the distinction of being the last ship in the Royal Navy whose sailors slept in hammocks. In June 1994 it was announced that HM Yacht Britannia would be de-commissioned in 1997 in view of her age and the expense of maintaining her. She is the second oldest ship in the Royal Navy, only Nelson's flagship, HMS Victory, being older.The role of The Queen's Flight is to provide air transport for The Queen, members of the Royal Family and certain senior government ministers. It consists of three BAe 146 medium-range jet aircraft and two Wessex helicopters.

Whenever the Queen or any other member of the Royal Family travels on land, either by road or rail, the arrange­ments are made by the Crown Equerry, whose office is located in the Royal Mews. The Crown Equerry is responsi­ble for the 30 horses used in State processions and which are kept in the royal stables, as well as for the magnificent collection of State coaches and carriages. He also looks after the five Rolls-Royce limousines kept in the Mews. Whenever Her Majesty is travelling in one of her official cars a solid-silver mascot depicting St George and the Dragon is fixed to the limousine bonnet.

A favourite method of travel for all the Royal Family is the Royal Train which is owned and operated by British Rail. Prince Charles designed part of the interior of his quar­ters and the Duke of Edinburgh frequently uses the train for business meetings for one of his many organizations. All royal journeys are charged to the Privy Purse (The Queen's treasury) who reimburse British Rail for every mile travelled.

19. Write out unknown words out of the text. Use them to speak about royal travelling.

20. Read and translate the text about the queen’s charges to entertain her quests.

ROYALTY ENTERTAINS

T he Queen is the country's official hostess entertaining, on behalf of her people, guests from all over the world. She has been described as the most generous hostess in the world with no other Head of State entertaining on quite the same scale. Her Majesty welcomes visiting monarchs, princes, sheiks and presidents to her palaces, castles, the Royal Yacht and even to her private homes at Balmoral and Sandringham, where they are treated to a unique hospitality.

In addition to the State Banquets required by protocol to be held in honour of visiting Heads of State, The Queen will host numerous official dinners and lunches throughout the year. At Windsor Castle close friends are invited to a con­tinuous house party throughout Royal Ascot week each June.

Windsor is also the scene of The Queen's large Christmas party where the family gathering has now expand­ed to include more than 40 people. New Year is spent at Sandringham where the Duke of Edinburgh hosts a series of shooting parties, and in August the royal couple move to Scotland where, once again, a large number of guests arrive at Balmoral. A tradition has grown whereby the Prime Minister and his wife are invited for a weekend, which usu­ally includes several hours discussing affairs of State.

When the Court moves to the Palace of Holyrood house in Edinburgh for one week in July, another round of parties then begins with an official dinner every evening and a Garden Party for 6,000 guests held in one of the most attrac­tive settings in Britain.

Union Jack

T his is popular name given to the flag of Great Britain. Actually it is called the Union Flag and it is a mixture of several flags.

It all began in 1606 when Scotland was joined to England and Wales. The Scottish flag, St Andrew’s Cross, blue with a white cross from corner to corner, was joined to the English

F lag, St George’s Cross, white with a red cross. The flag of St George can still be seen on churches in England.

Later, in 1801, when Ireland was joined to the Union, as it was called the Irish Flag of St Patrick’s Cross added, white with a red cross from corner to corner.

In this way the English people got the Union Flag whish is red, white and blue. King James the Third (1566-1622) ordered that the Union Flag should be flown on the main m ast of all British ships, except on ships of war. Here the flag was flown at the front of the ships, on whet was called the Jack Star and so we get the mane of Union Jack. A “jack”, by the way, is an old word for the sailor. The Union Jack is also on the flags of Australia and New Zealand.