Text d Political Parties

Task: read the text and give your understanding of the underlined parts of the sentences.

The two leading parties in the U.S. are the Democrats and the Republicans. The Democratic Party was founded in 1828, representing Southern planters – slave owners and part of Northern bourgeoisie, as well as groups of petty bourgeoisie and farmers. The Republican Party was founded in 1854. It united industrial and trade bourgeoisie from North-East, farmers, workers, craftsmen who were interested in destroying the political power of the South.

Today the Democrats are thought of as associated with labor, and the Republicans with business. Democrats tend to favor an active role of the central government in social matters, Republicans tend to oppose the greater involvement of the federal government in public life which they consider to be the responsibility of the states and communities. To distinguish between the parties is often difficult, however. The traditional European terms of “right” and “left”, or “conservative” and “liberal” do not quite fit the American system. Representatives or Senators are not bound to a party program if they have been elected as Democrats and the Republicans. Both Representatives and Senators are elected to serve the interests of the people and areas they represent, that is, their “constituencies”.

The main task of the parties is to win elections. But once a President is chosen, the parties again become amorphous bodies. In the U.S., the parties cannot win seats which they are then free to fill with party members they have chosen. As a result, the political parties have much less actual power than they do in other nations.

There are other minor parties but they do not play role in national politics.

Text e American President

Task: read the text and insert a suitable verb from the box.

to reelect	to resign	to convince
to approve	to stand	to dispose

The President of the United States is chosen in a national election for a four-year term, and may be ______ for a second term. The President must be a native-born citizen at least 35 years old. He is elected directly by the voters.

President is head of the executive branch. The President’s policies and appointments of federal judges and government officials must be _________ by Congressmen. Therefore he must be able __________ the Representatives and Senators of his point of view. The rule is “the President proposes, but Congress _________”.

Under the US Constitution President is made to ___________ before the expiry of his term of office only by an impeachment process. He is _______ trial in the Senate, with the Chief Justice of the U.S. acting as the judge and the Senators as the jury.

Dialogue 1. After the Seminar

Task:  read the dialogue, reproduce it a) abridged, b) in the form of a monologue.

Jack:  Heather, are you through with the USA Constitution?

Heather:  Oh yes, it wasn’t hard, you know. Just a bit of history... I mean I mentioned that reading and debating the Federalist Papers Americans became deeply conscious of the principles of democracy and its proper role in their life and ... and all that stuff¹.

Jack:  How in the world do you find enough time? If things go on like this you’ll soon become a straight ‘A’ student².

Heather:  To tell the truth, I could hardly manage extra questions. You see, Constitution provides the rule of the majority, and it can be so cruel, so wrong, so oppressive to minorities that it perverts democracy itself. I mean society ought to be tolerant. And tolerance is something that we get through education, social traditions, through the instruction of family, our experiences in dealing with strangers. And ...

Jack:  You are far too deep in it yet. It’s for this purpose that constitutional law is made and it regulates relations of the kind by providing us with rights and freedoms ... Of speech or expression ... Why should we talk of the thing like this?

Heather:  What I was asked, Jack, is to which extent these have to be restricted. The problem has been debated ever since nations originated. And, of course, I can’t be expected to solve it.

Jack:  You need a bit of relaxing. What about an hour or two of music and dancing at our cafe? Some new CDs they’ve got there are terrific.

Heather:  A good idea. And then we’ll have a walk to the campus under the new moon³.

Notes:

¹ and all that stuff – и все такое;

² a straight ‘A’ student – круглый отличник;

³ the new moon – молодой месяц.

Ex. 1. How is the following expressed in the dialogue?

1. an intention or plan; reason for an action

2. passing down of opinions, beliefs, customs from the past to the present

3. painful, causing suffering

4. able to understand

5. to supply

6. to argue about something with someone

7. a large group of people with a particular organization and shared customs, laws

8. the greater number or amount

9. to keep within limits

10. unjust

11. knowledge or skill which comes from practice

12. to turn away from what is right

13. the smaller number or part

Ex. 2. Study the dialogue and find the expressions which people need in conversations to create thinking time.

e. g. well … ; and erm…; a sort of … ; I mean … .

Ex. 3. Present the information you have learned from the dialogue making use of the following:

to become deeply conscious, principles of democracy, to provide the rule of the majority, to be oppressive to minorities, to pervert democracy, tolerance, to regulate relations, to provide rights and freedoms, to be restricted, a bit of relaxing.