3.Read and translate the text:

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a constitutional monarchy. Constitutional monarchy is a form of government that has a monarch, but his powers are limited by law or by a formal constitution. It means that in Great Britain sovereign reigns but does not rule.

Britain does not have a written constitution, but a set of laws. In theory, the constitution has three branches: Parliament, which makes laws, the government, which “executes” laws, i.e. puts them into effect, and the law courts, which interpret laws. Although the Queen is officially head of all three branches, she has little direct power.

Parliament is the most important authority in Britain. Technically Parliament is made up of three parts: the Monarch, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons. In reality the House of Commons is the only one of the three which has true power. Members of the House of Commons are elected by the voters of 650 constituencies. They are known as Members of Parliament, or MPs. The Prime Minister, or leader of the Government, is also an MP, usually the leader of the political party with a majority in the House of Commons.

The House of Lords consists of the Lords Temporal and the Lords Spiritual. The Lords Spiritual are the Archbishops of York and Canterbury together with twenty- four senior bishops of the Church of England.

The Lords Temporal consist of hereditary peers, life peers and the Lords of Appeal (Law Lords). Hereditary peers are those who have inherited their titles. Life peers are appointed by the Queen for various services to the nation. The Lords of Appeal become life peers on their judicial appointments. They serve the House of Lords as the ultimate court of appeal. This appeal court consist of nine Law Lords presided over by the Lord Chancellor.

The monarch serves formally as head of state. But the monarch is usually politically neutral and should not make political decisions.

The present sovereign is Queen Elizabeth II. She was crowned in Westminster Abbey in 1953.

4.Give English equivalents to Russian words and phrases: конституционная монархия, форма правления, писанная конституция, свод законов, три ветви власти, непосредственная власть, самый важный орган власти, избиратель, политическая партия с большинством, унаследовать титул, заслуги перед страной, юридические назначения, окончательный апелляционный суд, принимать политические решения.

5. Give definitions to the following words from the text:

- a constitutional monarchy is…;

- Parliament is…;

- the government is…;

- the law courts are…;

- the House of Commons is…;

- the House of Lords is…;

-a majority party is…;

6. Say who these people are:

- the Prime Minister is…;

- Members of Parliament are…;

- the Lords Temporal are…;

- the Lords Spiritual are…;

- hereditary peers are…;

- life peers are…;

- the Lords of Appeal are….

Who of these people are not elected?

7. There are 6 passages in the text. Title these passages. Find the key words for each passage.

8.Complete the chart using the text. Then, speak about the British Parliament using the chart below.

9. Answer the following questions:

1)What kind of system does Great Britain have?

2)What are the three branches of the British constitution?

3)What can you say about the functions of Parliament, government and the law courts in Great Britain?

4)What parts does the British Parliament consist of?

5)Which of the two Houses of Parliament has

true power?

6)How many constituencies are there in Great Britain?

7)Who is the official head of the state in the UK?

10. Think of the state system of your native country and answer the questions:

1. Who is the head of the state and how is such system called?

2. What body exercises legislative power?

3. What chambers does the Federal Assembly of Russia consist of?

11.Render the following text in Russian (10 minutes).

The Russian Federation is set up by the constitution of 1993.

Under the Constitution Russia is a presidential republic. The federal government consists of three branches: legislative, executive and judicial. Each of them is checked and balanced by the President.

The Federal Assembly is the legislative body of Russia. It consists of two chambers. The Upper Chamber is the Council of Federation; the Lower Chamber is the State Duma. Each chamber is headed by the Speaker. Legislature may be initiated in either of the two Chambers. But to become a law a bill must be approved by both Chambers and signed by the President. The President may veto the bill.

The executive power belongs to the Government which is headed by the Prime Minister. The first action of the Prime Minister on appointment is to form the Cabinet.

The judicial branch is represented by the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court and the regional courts.

The members of the Federal Assembly are elected by popular vote for a four-year period.

12. Title the text. Then, divide into two groups. One group will find all the differences and the other one will find similarities between the state system of Russia and that of the UK. Then, make up two charts reflecting the political systems of Russia and Great Britain.

Unit III

LEGISLATIVE BRANCH OF BRITISH GOVERNMENT.

Parliament

The Palace of Westminster with Elizabeth TowerandWestminster Bridgeviewed from across theRiver Thames

1. Before you read the text below, remember what you have already known about the British Parliament and then, answer the following questions:

1. What branch of government does Parliament represent: the executive, the legislative or the judicial?

2. How many chambers does British Parliament consist of? What are they?

3. Which of the two chambers is more powerful?

4. What is the main function of Parliament?

Vocabulary

2.Read and remember the following words and phrases from the text.

ancient institution [’eɪnʃənt]	древнее учреждение
supreme [su’pri:m|] legislative body [’ledʒɪslətɪv]	наивысший(верховный) законодательный орган
a dependency/-ies	зависимое государство
to possess [pə’zes]	обладать, владеть
i.e.(читается «that is»)	то есть
to raise [reɪz] money	собирать деньги
taxation	налогообложение
through [Ɵru:]	через( путем, посредством)
political issues [’ɪʃu:]	политические вопросы