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General information about the state
The Republic of Belarus is located in the center of Europe. It consists of six regions with centres in the cities of Minsk, Brest, Vitebsk, Gomel, Grodno, Mogilev, which are further divided into 118 rural districts, 102 towns and over 24 thousand townships and villages. In the capital of the Republic, the city of Minsk, there live around 2 million people.
The Republic of Belarus is a unitary, democratic, social state with the rule of law. It admits the priority of generally acknowledged principles of international law and assures the conformity of legislation with them.
The Constitution of the Republic of Belarus is the Fundamental Law of the Republic of Belarus, having supreme legal force. It was adopted in 1994, with the subsequent amendments and additions adopted at the national referenda on November 24,1996, and October 17, 2006. Laws of the Republic of Belarus, ordinances of the President of the Republic of Belarus, decrees of the President of the Republic of Belarus and other acts of state bodies (officials) are adopted and enacted in compliance with the Constitution.
The state power is exercised on the basis of its division on legislative, executive and judicial. Belarus is a presidential republic. The President of the Republic of Belarus is a head of state, a guarantor of the Constitution, of peoples' rights and freedoms.
In accordance with the Constitution the representative and legislative body is the Parliament- the National Assembly- consisting of two chambers- the House of Representatives (110 deputies) and the Council of the Republic ( 64 members).
The executive power in the republic is exercised by the Government - the Council of Ministers being the central body of state administration. The local administration and self-administration is carried through the system of local executive and administrative bodies ( councils of deputies), bodies of self-administration, referenda, assemblies etc.
The judicial power in the republic belongs to the courts. Control over accordance of legal acts with the Constitution is exercised by the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Belarus. Supervision of the exact and uniform execution of laws by all bodies of state management, local councils and other legal, and also physical persons is carried out by the General Public Prosecutor of the Republic of Belarus.
Control over the fulfillment of the republican budget, the utilization of state property, the execution of parliamentary acts, regulating the relations with state property, economic, financial and tax relations, is carried out by the State Control Committee.
2. Select the correct answer.
1. The authority of the President of Belarus is established and defined by
a) the Belarus Constitution
b) the Presidential Act of the Republic of Belarus
c) all of the above
2. The current president of Belarus was elected to the post in
a) 1994 and is now serving his third term
b) 1999 and is now serving his second term
c) none of the above
3. The Belarusian President is directly elected by the people of Belarus
a) for a 4-year term of office
b) for a 5-year term of office
4. Any Belarusian citizen over the age of
a) 21 can vote in the elections
b) 16 can vote in the elections
c) 18 can vote in the elections
5. Presidential candidates must be:
a) over 35 years old
-
resident in Belarus for at least 10 years
-
all of the above
6. As well as being head of state, the President also fulfils a number of other roles including:
-
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Belarus
-
Head of the Security Council
-
Guarantor of the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus
-
all of the above
7. The President of Belarus has wide-reaching powers. These include:
-
implementing the key principles of domestic and foreign policy
-
representing the State of Belarus on the international stage
-
calling regular and extraordinary Parliament elections
-
appointing the Prime Minister and the Chair of the principal courts in Belarus
-
signing bills
-
granting pardons to convicted prisoners
-
awarding state honours, ranks and titles
-
all of the above
8. The Belarusian Government – or Council of Ministers – is made up of
a) the Prime Minister of Belarus, his deputies and ministers
b) the President of Belarus and his deputies
9. The Prime Minister is
a) proposed by the President and approved by Parliament
b) approved by the President and proposed by Parliament
10. Government powers are determined by
a) the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus
b) the President of Belarus and his deputies
11. Belarus’ Council of Ministers is responsible for the work of public agencies and ministerial bodies including:
-
public administration, ministries, ministerial committees
-
KGB, military industry and front line troops, customs, aviation
-
science and technology
-
all of the above
12. The Government’s mandate covers:
-
national budget control
-
domestic and foreign policy
-
economic and social development programmes
-
national security
-
defence
-
all of the above
13. Local issues are represented by the locally-elected Councils of Deputies. These local councils operate on 3 levels:
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primary (villages and towns), basic (towns and regional councils) and regional
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basic (towns and regional councils), regional and federal
14. Deputies are elected for a 4-year term to deal with local issues and represent the local population in decisions on issues relating to:
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health and education
-
social welfare
-
trade and transport
-
all of the above
15. The Parliament of Belarus is known as the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus. It acts as
a) the representative and legislative body of the Republic of Belarus
b) the representative and executive body of the Republic of Belarus
c) none of the above
16. Belarus’ House of Representatives consists of
a) 64 deputies, all elected by the people of Belarus
b) 110 deputies, all elected by the people of Belarus
17. Belarus’ Council of the Republic is a regional representative body with
a) 64 members
b) 110 members
c) 8 members in each region and 8 in Minsk
18. The Belarus Constitution centres around 3 key elements:
-
the regulation of rights and freedoms
-
the establishment of a new state mechanism
-
the reworking of new laws and a new justice system
-
all of the above
19. The Belarus Constitution guarantees the following rights to the people of Belarus:
-
the right to health treatment (free in state institutions)
b) the right to social welfare for the elderly, sick, disabled and non-earning households
c) the right to a free general education for all
d) the right to free professional technical training
e) all of the above
f) only a) and c)
Text 2
1. Scan through the text below and entitle it.
Whether
you fly over the country or drive across it, the impression you get
is always
the same; it's very flat and there are lots of trees. The country has
no sea borders
and it sits in the heart of the mid-European plain between the Baltic
Sea to
the north and the Black Sea to the south. It borders Poland to the
west, Lithuania to
the northwest, Latvia to the north, Russia to the northeast and east
and finally, Ukraine to the south. The capital of the republic is
Minsk. The
country covers a surface area of 207,600km2.
It
ranks 13th of all European countries (excluding Russia) in area
size. Those
hills that exist here are barely hills at all; the mean elevation
above sea level is only 160m, with the highest point being Mount
Dzherzhinskaya in Minsk oblast
at
just 345m, although it is sufficiently elevated for there to be an
emerging winter sports resort. The lowest is the valley of the Nieman
River in Grodno oblast
at
just over 80m.Lakes (11,000 of them) and rivers (totalling 91,000km
in length) are the major features,
with significant areas of marshland in between. The area of the
Polyesye, the
largest of the marsh territories, runs along the southern boundary of
the country
and is one of the biggest in Europe. In the north is the country's
lakeland area.
Five major rivers run through the territory of Belarus, the Nieman,
the Dnieper,
the Berezhina, the Sozh and the Pripyat.
Over
a third of the total landscape (38%) is covered by forest, much of it
forming
part of the vast primeval wood that once covered the whole of central
Europe.
Not only is it a valuable source of timber, it also performs other
ecological functions,
such as water conservation and soil protection, as well as being home
to a rich variety of wildlife and also shelter for much revered
supplies of plants used for
medicinal and food purposes (particularly mushrooms and berries).
Other natural
resources include an abundance of peat fields (although these have
been significantly
depleted by intensive extraction) and small reserves of oil and
natural gas,
although production is insignificant. There are also 63 separate
sources of mineral
water supplying a significant number of sanatoria and spas throughout
the country.
Farmland accounts for around 44% of the republic's area, with 27.3%
being
arable. The
climate is moderately continental, ranging from unforgiving winters,
when the
mean January temperature is -6.7°C, to warm summers, when the mean
in July
is + 17.8°C. The annual level of precipitation is 550-650mm in the
low country
and 650-750mm at higher elevations. The average vegetation period is
184-208 days. Generally, the climate is favourable for growing cereal
crops, vegetables,
potato and fruit.
Official figures released in July 2007 estimate the population of the
country at that time
as 9,724,723. The earlier census taken in February 1999 showed the
figure to be
10,045,237 at that date, with the subsequent count in December 2005
showing 9,750,500.
All of this means that the negative growth rate is currently -0.06%.
Government
figures suggest that over 130 nationalities call Belarus their home,
with
by far the largest demographic group being that comprising native
Belarusians,
who make up 81% of the total population. Russians come next, with
11%,
then Poles and Ukrainians, accounting for 4% and 2% respectively.
Roughly 80%
of the people are classed as belonging to the Russian Orthodox Church
and around
10% are believed to be Roman Catholic, with the remaining 10% being
Protestant,
Jewish or Muslim. Estimates
also show that 3-3.5 million native Belarusians reside outside the
country's
borders, most of them in the United States of America, Russia,
Ukraine and
Poland.
Russian and Belarusian have equal status as formally adopted national
languages.
Belarusian is one of three historic eastern Slavonic languages and
not surprisingly,
it shares many vocabulary and grammatical similarities with the
language of
its state neighbours, especially Russian, Ukrainian and Polish. The
Belarusian alphabet is based on the Cyrillic script, from the
alphabet of the Old
Church Slavonic language. The current form dates from 1918 and has 32
letters.
The rules of modern grammar date from the 1959 reform.
The system of education in Belarus is state-administered and funded
directly from
the budgets of local tiers of government, to which schools report.
The structure
consists of first kindergarten education, then school education and
training,
vocational and technical education, secondary special education,
higher education, training of scientific and scientific pedagogical
personnel and the retraining
and self-development of adults. In 2002, almost 71% of pre-school
children were
in full-time education in nurseries and kindergartens. The two state
languages of
Belarusian and Russian are used equally for teaching and training.
The whole process is overseen by the state Ministry of Education,
which has developed a curriculum
that consists of compulsory and optional disciplines. No
student of modern-day Belarus can hope to gain an insight into the
mystery and
enigma that characterise the national psyche without first engaging
in at least a
rudimentary study of all that has gone before. But there is very
little to be found specifically about the country in Western books,
although there is much to read on the
subject of Holy Mother Russia and the former Soviet Union, both of
which subsumed
it at various times as an integral element of their empires. There is
one theme in particular that spans the centuries: that of suffering
and privation. Whether subjugated to the yoke of Lithuanian, Pole,
Tsar, Frenchman, Bolshevik, Communist, Nazi, Communist again or
latterly oligarch, heroism and tragedy can be found on most of the
pages of the country's history, as drama and melodrama unfold in the
never-ending struggle to resist pain, anguish, grief and suffering.
For generation after generation, there seems to have been no
sanctuary from
constant oppression, with the identity of the oppressor being largely
irrelevant.
Further, the media of oppression are many and varied: fear, dogma,
hunger,
poverty, lack of education, geography, climate and in recent times,
Chernobyl.
Each succeeding generation has developed defences to resist every
challenge that comes along, such that the people of today are
characterised by an astonishingly
stoical resilience.
The origins of traditional Belarusian dress are as difficult to
establish as any area
of culture.
Primarily made from wool and hand-produced linen, its key features
are straight lines
and white and red colouring, often with intricate patterns at the
edges (as with the
national flag), dependent upon the place of origin. There are many
subtle variances of design from region to region and even from
district to district. Today, national dress is most frequently worn
at festivals and special occasions such as weddings. Traditional
crafts include pottery, wood engraving and plait work with straw,
willow, root and bark. The most notable and uniquely attributable
example of
Belarusian folk art is the rushnik,
or
ceremonial towel. Traditional cuisine displays the same diversity of
influence as dress and crafts,
although it is widely held to mostly resemble that of Lithuania.
Travellers in other
parts of eastern Europe will encounter much that they have seen
before and little
that they will not have seen. Great significance has always been
attached to bread,
both as a staple foodstuff, but also as an important symbol in many
rituals. The
potato forms the basis for many meals (historically referred to as
'second bread')
and the plentiful supply of mushrooms in the forests that extensively
cover the
land ensures their prominence in many recipes. The most well-known
dish is draniki
(potato
pancakes), usually served with a rich pork stew in pots.
Only moderate seasoning is used
in cooking.
Vocabulary notes:
anguish n – сильная боль, bark n – кора дерева, engraving n – гравировка, резьба, grief n – горе, holy a – святой, insight n – проницательность, intricate a – запутанный, oppression n – притеснение, угнетение, primeval a – первобытный, privation n – лишение, нужда, |
resilience n – упругость, sanctuary n – убежище, span v – покрывать пространство, straw n – соломка, subjugate v – покорять, подчинять, subtle a – тонкий, suffering n – страдание, unfold v – развёртываться, willow n – ива, yoke n – ярмо. |
2. Read the text again and divide it into appropriate paragraphs (about 8); discuss the results in pairs.
3. Make a short plan of the text outlining the main ideas of the paragraphs.
4. Read the text again and say if the following statements are true or false.
1. Belarus borders Poland to the east, Lithuania to the northeast, Latvia to the north, Russia to the northwest and west and finally, Ukraine to the south.
2. The area of the Polyesye, the largest of the hilled territories, runs along the southern boundary of the country and is one of the biggest in Europe.
3. Over a third of the total landscape (38%) is covered by sand, much of it forming part of the vast primeval desert that once covered the whole of central Europe.
4. The climate is favourable for growing cereal crops, vegetables, potato and fruit.
5. News that the population is continuing to grow will come as no surprise to those who know the country.
6. Estimates also show that 3-3.5 million native Belarusians reside outside the country's borders, most of them in Asia.
7. The Belarusian alphabet is based on the Latin script, from the alphabet of the Old Church Slavonic language.
8. The system of education in Belarus is state-administered and funded directly from the budgets of local tiers of government, to which schools report.
9. There are plenty of sources to be found about the country specifically in Western books.
10. There are no subtle variances of design of national dress from region to region and even from district to district.
5. Look through the text again searching for the English equivalents of the following collocations.
Пересекать страну на самолёте или машине, находиться в центре среднеевропейской равнины, граничить с, занимать площадь, высота над уровнем моря, горнолыжный курорт, болотистая и озёрная местность, протекать по территории, первобытный лес, быть ценным источником, защита воды и почвы, изобилие запасов торфа, годовой уровень осадков, перепись населения, отрицательный показатель роста, составлять …% от всего населения, жить за пределами страны, создать учебную программу, составной элемент, национальный характер, нескончаемая борьба с бедами, постоянное угнетение, недостаток образования, удивительно стойкое противостояние, в зависимости от места происхождения, гончарное дело, резьба по дереву, лозоплетение, национальная кухня.
6. Retell the text using your plan.
Text 3
Read the text below, mind the pronunciation of the geographic names. Fulfil the tasks that follow.