Самостійна робота №5

Тема для самостійного опрацювання: «Порівняльна характеристика державного устрою та політичної системи України та англомовних країн (Велика Британія, США, Австралія.(6 год.)

Література: В.К.Шпак «Англійська для повсякденного спілкування», Богацкий И.С., Дюканова Н.М. Бизнес-курс английского языка.

Т.М. Гужва Reason to speak. Сучасні розмовні теми, О.М.Павліченко «Граматичний практикум», двомовний англо-український, українсько-англійський словник

Хід роботи:

1. Прочитати, перекласти тексти “The political system of Great Britain”, “The British Parliament”

2.Прочитати, перекласти текст “The political system of USA”, “The political system of Australia”

3.Скласти опорний словник за темою “The political system of country”

4.Приступити до виконання завдань, що подані у вигляді лексико – граматичних вправ

Вправи:

Exercise 1. Read and translate the texts:

Text 1.The political system of Ukraine

Ukraine is a sovereign state whose independence was declared on August 24, 1991. Before that it was one of the 15 republics of the forms Soviet Union. The country has a democratic political system which means that its executive branch is headed by the president with strong power, and its legislative branch is represented by a national parliament.

The president who is elected to a five-year term is the commander-in-chief of the military forces and can issue orders, called edicts, without the parliament. The first president of Ukraine was Leonid Kravchuk, whose programmer was aimed at the construction of a new Ukraine with a strong state system, genuine democracy, material well-being of the Ukrainian entered a new phase of development.

In 1994 people elected a new president, Leonid Kuchma, and Ukraine entered a new phase of development.

In 1999 he was re-elected to a new term of presidency and stated among his main concerns the rapid implementation of crucial economic reforms.

Ukraine’s parliament, called Verkhovna Rada (the Supreme Council), is the nation’s law-making body. In has one chamber consisting of 450 memders who are elected by voters at general elections ta a five-year term.

Every citizen of Ukraine over 18 has the right to vote in the elections.

Text 2. The Political system of the United States of America

The United States is a democracy. But what do Americans mean when they use this word?

Abraham Lincoln one of the best-loved and most respected American presidents, said that the United States had a government “of the people, by the people and for the people”. No one has formulated a better way of describing the principles of the American political system as Americans understand it. The Constitution, laws and traditions of the United States give the people the right to determine who will be leader of their nation, who will make the laws, and what laws will be. The Constitution guarantees individual freedom to all.

The Constitution sets the basic form of government: it has three branches – legislative, executive and judiciary. Congress, the legislative branch of the federal government, is made up of the Senate and House of Representatives. Congress makes all laws, and each house of Congress has the power to support or reject a bill offered by the other. When they bots pass a bill on which they agree, it is sent to the president for his signature. Only after that a bill becomes a law.

The members of the House Representatives are elected for two years, and one-third of the Senators are elected every two years for six-year term of office. Each state, regardless of the populated states.

The president of the USA is elected every four years to four-year term of office with no more than two full terms allowed. The President is the chief executive of the United States and also the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. At present USA is headed by the 43d president of the USA. George Bush, the leader of the Republican Party. The next presidential election will be held in 2004.

The judiciary branch is represented by the Supreme Court and federal courts at the national level. Today the United States has two major political parties: the Democratic Party and the Republican party. Both these parties have supporters among a wide variety of Americans. There are other smaller parties in the US, but none of them has enough popular support to win a presidential election.

For most Americans, for most of the time, life is peaceful. They do their jobs and enjoy their homes and families, though most of them remain interested in politics. They keep up with the news of what the president or Congress is doing. Some may at times write letters to congressmen or to newspapers expressing their views. Others may be very involved in politics at the local, state of national level. But on the average however, unless something unusual is taking place, Americans quietly let their political system work.

Text 3. The Political system of Great Britain

The United Kingdom is a constitutional or parliamentary monarchy. It means that it has a monarch (either a queen or a king) as its Head of State but the monarch has very little power. The Queen (or King) reigns but she(he) doesn’t rule. Parliament and they only meet together on symbolic occasions such as the coronation of a new monarch or the traditional annual opening of the Parliament.

There is no written constitution in Britain. The rules for governing the country have been developed over the centuries. More than a thousand years ago, before the Norman Conquest in 1099, the Anglo-Saxon kings Consulted the Great Council (an assembly of the leading men from each district) before taking major decisions. Between 1066 and 1215, the king ruled alone, but in 1215 the nobles forced King John to accept Magna Carta (the Greet Charter), which took away some of the king’s powers. In 1264 the first parliament of noble met together. Since then the British Constitution has grown up slowly as a result of countless Acts of Parliament. There have been no violent changes in the constitution since the “bloodless revolution” of 1688 when the Parliament invited William and Mary to become Britain’s first constitutional monarchs who could rule only with the support of the Parliament. The Bill of Rights in 1689 was the first step towards constitutional monarchy because it prevented the monarch from making laws or raising the army without Parliaments’ approval. Since 1689 the power of Parliament has grown steadily while the power of the monarch has weakened.

The present British monarch is Queen Elizabeth(since 1953) and the next in line to the throne is her son, Charles, the Prince of Wales, and then his son, Prince William of Wales.

Britain is a democracy. Men and women over 18 have the right to vote, but it is not compulsory. They have the right to elect a Member of Parliament(M.P.) for their electoral area (constituency). Most M.Ps belong to a different political party. Although there is no limit to the number of political parties, and at present there are more than 100 of them, Britain in reality has a two-party system of government, since most people vote either Labour or Conservative.

The party that the most seats in a general election forms the government and its leader becomes the Prime Minister, the head of the government. At present the Prime Minister of Britain is Tony Blair, the leader of the Labour Party. He or she (the only woman Prime Minister in the history of Britain was Margaret Thatcher, the leader of the Conservative party from 1979 to 1990) usually takes policy decisions with the agreement of the Cabinet of Ministers. The power of the Cabinet, in its turn. Is controlled by the Parliament, for no bill can become law until it is passed by an Act of Parliament.

All important bills are presented to the House of Commons (the lower chamber of the Parliament, all 659 members of which are elected by people), where they are explained and debated. If hereditary or life-time peers, clergy, and supreme judges)band after to the monarch to be signed. Although a bill must be all three bodies, the House of Lords has only limited powers, and the monarch has not refused to sign any bill for about 200 years. The monarch always acts on the advice of the Prime Minister. So the House of Commons is the main law-making body while the Cabinet of Ministers and the government are the main executive bodies.

Scotland and Wales have their own governments: the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh and the Welsh Assembly in Cardiff. Both opened in 1999.

In Northern Ireland the situation is more complicated. Because of the need to deal with politically inspired violence and terrorism, the Government assumed direct rule over Northern Ireland in 1972. Since then several, plans have been put forward by the successive governments in an effort to establish an administration acceptable both to Protestant and Roman Catholic Communities. Due to the old-time religious enmity, only since 1968 over 3,000 people have lost their lives as a result of the terrorists' attempts to achieve their aims through violence.

There are 14 British overseas territories in which Britain is responsible for their defense, internal security and foreign relations. British policy is to give independence to those overseas territories that want it, and not to force it on those which do not. The territories include British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar and some others. According to this policy Britain returned Hong Kong to China in 1997.

Great Britain is a member of the Commonwealth which is a voluntary association of independent states that originated as a result of dismantling of the British Empire after 1945. The British monarch is the Head of the Commonwealth and also the Head of state of 16 member countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the Bahamas and some others.

Text 4. The Political system of Australia

Australia has a population of about 17,820,000. Approximately 80 per cent of the people live in the south-eastern quarter of the country with most the remaining population living along the north-east and extreme south-west coast. Canberra, the national capital, and the largest inland city, lays about 130 kilometers from the ocean. More than 80 per cent of Australia’s people live in cities and towns, making it one of the world’s most urbanized countries. About 70 per cent of the population lives in cities of more than 100,000 people. Only about 13 per cent of Australia’s people live in rural areas.

The Commonwealth of Australia is federation of six states – New South West, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, and Western Australia. Each state has its own government. Australia’s Constitution gives certain powers to the federal government and leaves all others to the states. Australia also has two main land territories – the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory – that do not have the status of statehood.

In Australia’s parliamentary. System of government, the national government is controlled by the political party or combination of parties with a majority of seats in the lower house of parliament. The leader of the majority heads the government as prime minister. The prime minister appoints members of parliament to serve as ministers, the head of government departments. The prime minister and department heads form the Cabinet, with establishes major government policies.

Today, Australia is a constitutional monarchy like Great Britain. The British monarch is also Australia’s monarch and head of the state. However, the monarch serves mainly as a symbol of the historical ties between the two countries and has little or no power in the Australian government. Australia is the number of the Commonwealth of Nations; with many others of Britain’s former colonies.

Australia is one the world’s rich developed countries. Most developed countries have become rich through the production and export of manufactured goods, but Australia’s wealth has come chiefly form farming and mining.

Today, like many other developed countries, Australia faces the problems of continuing inflation and unemployment as well as a growing international debt. The country’s hope for economic growth are closely tied to the growth its mining industry.

Uranium is Australia’s most valuable undeveloped mineral resource. However, Australians, who oppose nuclear power because of its potential hazards, also oppose plans to mine and export Uranium. In addition, some of the richest Uranium deposits lie in the traditional tribal lands of the aborigines, and aboriginal groups are trying to obtain legal control over their tribal lands, including the Uranium mining areas.

Exercise 2. Supply the missing members of these words families. Check your answer with the dictionary. The first word is done for you:

1) economy – economic, economics, economist, economically, to economize

2) to govern -_____________________________________________________

3) to elect -_______________________________________________________

4) to employ - ____________________________________________________

5)to educate - ____________________________________________________

6) to corrupt -_____________________________________________________

7) to contribute - __________________________________________________

8) power - _______________________________________________________

9) law - _________________________________________________________

Exercise 3. Decide whether the following statements are true or false:

1.The British monarch is the head of the government.

2.Magna Carta was the document that limited the monarch’s power.

3.Members of Parliament represent two main political parties.

4.The cabinet of Ministers is responsible and accountable to the Parliament.

5. The House of Commons is more numerous than the House of Lords.

6.British overseas territories used to be its colonies before World War II.

7.Abraham Lincoln was the first president of the USA.

8.The law-making body of the American government is called the Congress.

9.The US President is the head of its military forces.

10.The elected US President can serve as long as he wins elections.

11.The USA nowadays has a two-party political system.

Exercise 4. Write about the following:

What are the main differences in the Political systems of Ukraine and Great Britain?

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Exercise 5.Answer the following questions:

1.Is Ukraine a sovereign state?

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2.Does Ukraine have a democratic political system?

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3.Is President of Ukraine the commander-in-chief of the military forces of country?

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4.What is Ukraine’s parliament called?

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5.What Ukrainian political party do you know?

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Exercise 6.Complete the following sentences with necessary words:

1.The first president of Ukraine was …………………………………………

(Leonid Kuchma, Leonid Kravchuk, Victor Uschenko)

2. Ukraine’s ………………………………..has one chamber consisting of 450 members. (party, parliament, Constitution)

3.Verkhovna Rada is the nation’s law making ………………………………… (chamber, body, court )

4.The main trend of foreign ……………………………. in Ukraine is to live in peace with the rest of the world community. (culture, policy, industry)

5.The Cabinet of Ministers is headed by the …………………………………….. . (Prime Minister, President, Head of the political party)

Exercise 7. PROJECT WORK: CULTURAL LIFE IN UKRAINE, GREAT BRITAIN AND THE USA

Оцінка_________________ Викладач_________________________