2. Ответьте на вопросы к тексту:

1. What enables presidents to serve their full terms?

2. Why can a government resign in the UK?

3. What can happen after the government in the UK resigns?

4. What is a coalition government?

5. Are coalition cabinets the rule?

6. Can there be more than 50 governments? Give examples.

7. Why can it take much time to form a government in parliamentary system?

8. What is the reason that a coalition can be upset?

3. Скажите, соответствуют ли данные утверждения прочитанному тексту:

1. In presidential systems of government the president's term of office isn't

fixed.

2. Governments in presidential systems aren't fairly stable.

2. In parliamentary systems the government may lose its majority in the legislature as a result of general elections.

2. In the USA one party usually wins a majority in the House of Commons.

3. Coalition cabinets have been fairly stable in Switzerland and Germany.

2. In France, during the Third Republic from 1870 to 1940, there were only

20. different governments.

    7. Italian governments weren't stable.

    8. Coalition is time-consuming process.

4. Замените подчеркнутые слова синонимами из текста:

1. The president hasn't made any strategic mistakes during the time that he has had this position.

2. The time and the place of our meeting is arranged and doesn't change.

3. People got used to the unchanging economic situation.

4. One party wins more votes in the House of Commons in the UK.

5. Forming a coalition can take much time because of the great diversity of

parties.

6. After a group of parties in a government is formed it can be easily upset.

Text 6

1. Прочитайте текст

Parliament

The legislature, or lawmaking body, of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, India, and most other Commonwealth nations is called a parliament. The legislative assembly of the European Union is called the European Parliament. Many individual European nations and Japan also have parliamentary-type legislatures, though they use other names. Japan's legislature, for example, is called the Diet, while Sweden's is the Riksdag.

Most parliaments, like the Congress of the United States, are bicameral— they have two houses. Bicameral legislatures usually consist of an “upper” house of elected, appointed, or sometimes hereditary members and a larger “lower” house of popularly elected members. The term upper reflects the greater traditional prestige of the upper house and the social standing of its members, who traditionally represented the elite. The members of the lower house, on the other hand, traditionally represented the common people. One of the oldest parliaments, and the one on which most modern parliaments are modeled, is that of the United Kingdom, made up of the House of Lords and the House of Commons. Australia uses the terms Senate and House of Representatives, while Canada has a Senate and a House of Commons. Several European countries, including Sweden and Finland, have unicameral, or one-house, legislatures.

The word parliament is related to the French verb parler, which means “to speak,” and to the English word parley—a discussion or conference. Legislatures are places where elected representatives of the people meet to debate and to discuss proposed laws and other national business.

The federal government of the United States is noted for its separation of powers: it has three distinct branches—the presidency, the Congress, and the federal courts. No individual who is serving in one branch may, at the same time, be a member of another branch. In most parliamentary systems this separation does not exist in such a clear-cut fashion. In Britain the prime minister is always a member of Parliament (MP), as are all the ministers, or heads of departments. A prime minister always holds office as leader of the majority party. If the party loses an election, the leader of the winning party becomes the new prime minister. In the United States the length of a president's term is not affected by election results in Congress because the president is not and cannot be a member of Congress. In Britain the highest court in the land is the House of Lords. Therefore some functions exercised by the United States Supreme Court are in Britain carried out by the upper house of Parliament.

The typical modern parliament is more than a lawmaking body. It spends much of its time on fiscal matters—the so -called money bills. These are appropriations of funds for such governmental needs as defense, construction of public works, and salaries of departmental employees. Through this control of the purse, parliaments have a large measure of control over government policy. Policy itself, however, is decided by the prime minister and the Cabinet