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The United States of America




 

After its 200th birthday the United States of America still holds the leading position in the western world. A country that inspired many appellations "Land of Opportunity," "Melting Pot," "God's Country," is still referred to us as a land of superlatives "the richest," "the greatest," "the most."

What makes the USA the leader of the western world is its economic, political and military dominance over other countries.

The United States lies in the central part of the North American Continent between the two oceans: the Atlantic Ocean to the East and the Pacific Ocean to the West. Friendly Canada to the north and friendly Mexico to the south are the only countries bordering it.

The USA consists of three separate parts. They are the Hawaiian Islands, situated in the central part of the Pacific Ocean, Alaska separated by the Canadian territory and the rest major part of the USA. The states differ very much in size, population and economic development.

There are many big cities and towns in the USA: New York, San Francisco, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles are the biggest of them.

The United States of America is a parliamentary republic. The government is divided into three branches: legislative (the US Congress), executive (the President and his Administration) and judicial (the US Supreme Court).

There are two main political parties in the USA: the Democratic (symbolized by a "donkey") and the Republican (its symbol is an "elephant"). The US President is both head of state and government. He is elected for a four-year term. Presidential elections are held every leap year on first Tuesday after first Monday in November. The President is assisted by Secretaries who are the heads of the executive departments.

The Supreme Court consists of Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices who are appointed for life. It is supposed to decide whether a law of the Congress or an executive order of the President is constitutional or not.

The form of US government is based on the Constitution of September 17, 1787, adopted after the War of Independence. In December 1791, the Congress adopted ten amendments to the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights. The latter enumerated what the government controlled by the oligarchy was not going to be allowed to do, which was, of course, an important democratic gain for people.

The Congress of the United States is composed of two houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate represents the states and the House represents the population according to its distribution among the states. All states have electoral requirements of the same nature. First of all they are residence requirements.

Through its power over the purse, the US Congress can control much that relates to foreign policy, also it is a governmental body that determines taxation.

Each of the fifty states of the USA has a constitution patterned after the federal Constitution, with its divisions of power: legislative, executive, and judicial.

The Presidency means not only a man: means an institution the "executive branch" of the government.

 

 

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The Supreme Court is the highest court in the country and the head of the judicial branch of US government. The federal and state courts have the power of "judicial review." Also there are about ninety district courts in different parts of the United States. American judicial practice is firmly committed to the idea of jury trials. The Constitution guarantees them for both criminal and civil cases. According to the US judicial doctrine, "justice is a relationship in which each citizen or group receives due respect and return."

Learn the words:

1. to hold (the leading position)

2. to inspire ,

3. appellation ,

4. to refer ; ,

5. superlative

6. dominance , ,

7. to border (on, upon)

8. branch

9. legislative -

10. executive -

11. judicial

12. donkey

Donkey

13. leap year

14. court [ko:t] -

Supreme Court

15. justice -

Chief Justice

16. amendment

17. to enumerate -

18. gain ; ,

19. to represent -

20. the House of Representatives

( )

21. purse ,

22. taxation -

23. to pattern ,

24. divisions of power

25. judicial review

26. committed , ..

27. jury trial

Translate the words:

To consist, to differ, to appoint, to elect, to assist, to decide, to adopt, size, head of state, government, executive department, oligarchy [`o:liga:ki], foreign policy,

Read the names, pay attention to your pronunciation:

the North American Continent

the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean

Canada, Mexico [`meksiku]

Hawaiian Islands [hα:`waiin`ailndz]

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Alaska [æ`læsk]

New York [`nju:`jo:k]

San Francisco [`sænfrn`sisku]

Washington

Chicago

Los Angeles

 

Answer the questions:

1. What are the main political parties in the USA?

2. When are presidential elections held?

3. What does the Supreme Court consist of?

4. When was the US Constitution adopted?

5. Is the USA the biggest country in the world?

Prove that:

1. the USA have a very favourable geographical position;

2. the climate of the USA differs very much in different parts of the country;

Represent the political system of the USA in a scheme.

What additional information do you know about the political system of the USA?

Test:

Who can be elected

a) a Senator?

b) a representative?

c) the President?

1. at least 35 years old, be a natural citizen of the USA, must have lived in the US for at least 14 years, and be a civilian;

2. at least 30 years old, a citizen of the USA for 9 years, and live in the state she or he will represent;

3. at least 25 years old, a citizen of the USA for 7 years, and live in the state.

 

GREAT BRITAIN

 

Learn the following words:

1. the total area

2. total population

3. to include -

4. to be divided -

5. an insular climate

6. humid -

7. to consist (of)

8. a county (. ), ( )

9. to occupy -

10. to amount to , ,

11. a parliamentary monarchy

12. the head of state

13. to act on the advice of

14. legislation -

15. to decide ,

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16. judicature , ,

17. to elect -

18. a general election

19. a nation-wide representative body

20. to appoint -

21. to compose ;

22. highly-developed

 

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1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

to be situated, total area, the head of state, total population, to be divided, king, highly-developed, parliament, island, to compose, leading party, capital, to include, to appoint, machine-building, to be washed, to elect, mild, government, to be separated, a county, ship-building, parliamentary monarchy, peninsula, river, insular, to occupy, humid, to consist, to amount, the queen, metallurgy, absolute, to act on the advice of, written constitution, legislation, electronics, a nation-wide representative body, a general election, moderating influence of the sea, official language.

 

Read the text and answer the following questions:

1. What are the main parts of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland?

2. How many islands is the UK situated on? What are the largest?

3. When was the British constitution adopted?

4. Who is the head of the state in Great Britain?

5. Who is appointed the head of the government?

 

GREAT BRITAIN

Great Britain (official name the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) is situated on two large islands, the larger of which is Great Britain, the smaller is Ireland. In addition to these two islands Great Britain includes over five hundred small islands. The total area of Great Britain is 240,000 sq. kms, its population is 56,000,000 people.

In the north-west and west the country is washed by the Atlantic Ocean and the Irish Sea, in the east by the North Sea. The island of Great Britain is separated from France by the English Channel. Northern Ireland, which is a part of Great Britain and which is situated on the island of Ireland, is separated from Great Britain by the North Channel.

The island of Great Britain is divided into two parts: mountainous (in the north and west of the island) and lowland (in the south and east). There are no very long rivers in Great Britain. The most important rivers are the Thames (the deepest) and

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the Severn (the longest). The rivers seldom freeze in winter. Due to moderating influence of the sea Great Britain has an insular climate, rather humid and mild, without striking discrepancy between seasons.

Great Britain consists of four main parts: England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Administratively Great Britain is divided into 55 counties. The biggest cities of Great Britain are London, Birmingham, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, Edinburgh, and Cardiff.

England is the largest part of Great Britain (it occupies over 50% of the territory and its population amounts to 83 % of the total population of Great Britain). Wales is a peninsula in the south-west of the island of Great Britain. It occupies about 9 % of its territory with the population of 4.8 % of the total population. The Welsh speak their own language. Scotland is the most northern part of Great Britain with the territory of 32% of the total territory and with the population of 9 % of the total population of Great Britain. Northern Ireland occupies the north-east part of the island of Ireland. Its territory amounts to 5.2 % of the total territory of Great Britain. The main cities of Nothern Ireland are Belfast and Londonderry.

Great Britain is a parliamentary monarchy. Officially the head of the state is the Queen (or the King). However, the power of the Queen in Great Britain is not absolute. She acts only on the advice of the ministers and Parliament. There is no written constitution in Great Britain. The main principles of British legislation are expressed in other documents, like "Magna Charta"*, "Habeas Corpus Act"**, "Bill of Rights", the Parlimentary Act which decided the position of the House of Lords, the Judicature Act, etc. The British legislation does not provide written guarantees of individual political rights.

Parliament in Great Britain exists since 1265 and 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 not less frequently than once in 5 years. After the general election the Queen appoints the head of the government the Prime Minister. As a rule 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 a highly-developed industrial country. The main fields of British industry are machine-building, ship-building, metallurgy, electronics, etc.

 

* Magna Charta[`mægn`ka:t] (1215)

** Habeas Corpus Act . 1679.

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What was for you new in this text?

Explain why

 

1. the climate of Great Britain differs from that of the Continent.

2. the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is often called Great Britain or England.

3. the English people like to say that the Queen (or a King) reigns, but does not rule (, ).

4. the Conservative party is often called the Tory.

 





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