2. Read the words and guess their meaning.

1. (n) monarch – monarchy, parliament, Elizabeth, ruler, minister, lord, party, bill, candidate, leader, opposition.

2. (a) constitutional, real, political, conservative, labour, liberal, social, prime, democratic, bourgeois, communist.

3. (v) form.

4. constitutional monarchy, bourgeois leader, prime minister (PM), political party, service – to serve, opposition – to oppose.

3. Words and expressions to remember.

approval to reign with the support of … the present Queen to have little power the highest body of state power a party in power the head of state a hereditary peer to sign a bill to introduce a bill to criticize a bill by criticizing to oppose to become a law to represent the rich representative to defend the rights of smb.

одобрение править с помощью … нынешняя королева иметь мало власти высший орган государственной власти правящая партия глава государства наследственный пэр (дворянин) подписать билль (законопроект) вносить билль на рассмотрение критиковать билль критикуя выступать против стать законом представлять богатых представительный защищать права кого-либо

elections to form the Government to form the Opposition to defeat the Government a / the majority a majority party to resign The Government resigned. to succeed in smth. such as

выборы формировать правительство формировать оппозицию наносить поражение правительству большинство партия большинства уходить в отставку Правительство ушло в отставку. добиваться успеха в чем-то например; такой как

4. Let us see how much you remember of the above words and expressions. Set yourself a mark according to the table below:

   words/expressions 24- 27 18-23 12 -17 6 - 11 5

   mark 5 4 3 2 1

5. Listen to the text twice for understanding.

The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy. It has a monarch as its Head of State who reigns with the support of Parliament. (The present British monarch is Queen Elizabeth II). The monarch has little power. The real ruler of the country is the Prime Minister. The highest body of state power is the British Parliament. It consists of two houses: the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The House of Lords consists of more than 1, 000 hereditary lords and peers. The House of Commons has 650 members (MPs). The House of Commons introduces new bills. Then they go to the House of Lords for approval, and finally the monarch signs them. Only then they become laws.

Great Britain has a many-party system. The main political parties are the Conservative Party and the Labour Party. The Conservative Party is the party of the rich. The Labour Party consists of workers, but it is a bourgeois party. Other parties such as the Liberal Party and the Social -Democratic Party are not representative. The only party that defends the rights of the working people is the Communist Party (1920).

The political parties choose candidates in elections. The party with a majority of seats in the House of Commons forms the Government, and its leader becomes Prime Minister. The second largest majority party becomes the Opposition. The Opposition tries to defeat the Government by criticising or opposing its Bills. If it succeeds, the Government resigns, and the leader of the Opposition forms a new Government.