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20. Answer the following questions:

1. Why do we speak about a host of images connected with Winston Churchill?

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Учебное пособие для философов и политологов

  1. When was Churchill exiled from the mainstream of his party?

  2. How was he branded by peace-loving Britons at that

time?

  1. What did he do not to remain a passive spectator of the political situation?

  2. Who helped him to be in the center of all urgent issues?

  3. What helped Churchill to assume finally power?

  4. Where did Churchill live being in exile?

  5. What works did he write at that time?

  6. How many of them did he write in 1931-1939?

  1. What political cartoons appeared in press?

  2. When did Winston Churchill become Prime Minister?

21. Find in the article the facts to prove that:

  1. Winston Churchill was a man of legend.

  1. For ten years Winston fought a lonely war of his own.

  1. Churchill was a man of action.

  2. He had never been bored.

  1. It was Winston's great foe - Adolf Hitler - who has­ tened Churchill's return to power.

22. Read the following quotations by Churchill:

«Never give in, never, never, never, never - in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.»

«Politics is almost as exciting as war, and quite as dan­gerous. In war you can only be killed once, but in politics many times.»

Find in the article one more quotation. Read it out. In what way do these quotations characterize Churchill as a politician? What do you think?

23. Review the article.

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Political science

Part I

UNIT 8

I. READ AND TRANSLATE THE TEXT:

POLITICS (by Gary Althen)

Americans are quite proud of their political system. Whether they are well informed about politics (most are not) or whether they participate actively in political matters (many do not), they believe their political system has advantages most other political systems lack. They believe it protects their individual freedom, which is a value of supreme importance to them. They believe their system is, or can be, responsive to their wishes in ways other systems cannot be.

Paradoxically, most Americans have a rather negative view of politics and politicians. The system might be very good, but the people who operate within it might not be. As a group, politicians are generally seen as relatively unintelligent, excessively talkative, and somewhat devious. Government employees, too, are suspect. Many Americans suppose that the government has too many workers, and only a few who are diligent and productive enough to deserve the pay they get. Paradoxically, again, Ameri­cans generally expect and receive competent service from government employees.

Perhaps because they fear that a government can be­come «too strong» and thereby endanger citizens' freedom, Americans tolerate a political system that seems utterly inefficient to many people from other countries. The Ameri­can system was, indeed, originally established in such a way as to prevent it from taking quick, concerted action in any but the most extreme circumstances. There is a «divi­sion of power,» with various governmental responsibilities divided among the national, state, and local levels and, there is the «separation of powers» among the executive, legisla­tive, and judicial branches - at both the national and state levels. There is the «two-party system,» with two large and

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Учебное пособие для философов и политологов

Political science

Part I

ideologically ambiguous parties competing for positions in the government.

This structure results in extreme decentralization that people from many other countries have difficulty in under­standing. The decentralization is most evident in the domestic realm, and somewhat less so in the conduct of foreign affairs. In both realms, though, the United States government has more internal impediments to action than most other govern­ments do. American citizens tend to see that as an advantage, or at least as a price worth paying for the limits it puts on the government's ability to infringe on individual citizens' lives.

The administrative side of the government does not have the built-in «checks and balances» that keep the political side from acting decisively. Some administrative agencies are quite efficient. Others are less so. Among the least effi­cient, most observers would agree, is the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the one agency with which foreign visitors inevitably have dealings.

Americans feel very free to criticize their political lead­ers. The president, senators and congressmen, governors, mayors, and others are subject to public criticism so harsh that foreign visitors are sometimes shocked and embarrassed to see or hear it - even if they agree with it. But while they themselves feel free to criticize, Americans usually do not welcome criticisms that come from foreign visitors. «If you don't like it here, go back where you came from,» is the reaction foreigners sometimes get when they make nega­tive comments about American politics (as well as other aspects of American Life).

Besides their pride in their systems of government and their propensity to criticize their leaders, Americans have three other general ideas about politics that foreigners will want to understand: they believe firmly in what they call the «rule of law,» they idealize compromise, and they conceive of politics as something separable from other aspects of life.

(from «AMERICAN WAYS»)

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