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Ex.9 Rewrite the word combinations according to the model and translate them:

the car is broken the broken car the car broken it was written in written in …

the policy is conducted … she was born in …

she was succeeded to … power is represented by … the constitution is written … members are elected …

the constitution was set up … the law is proposed …

the Prime Minister is appointed …

Ex.10 a) Read and translate the dialogue:

Mr Bond invited his guest Mr Kulikov to make a tour round the Houses of Parliament

– Now we are in the centre of London. You can see Westminster Palace. It is the seat of the British Parliament. Do you know how the British Parliament is called?

–Yes. It’s called the Houses of Parliament because it consists of two Chambers: the House of Lords and the House of Commons.

–I think we’ll start with the House of Lords.

A few minutes later …

–Here we are now. You can see the Throne on which the Queen sits when she opens Parliament.

–The place is really wonderful. Something you can never forget.

–Before the Throne, there is the Woolsack upon which the Lord Chancellor presides over the lords.

–Why wool?

–For hundred of years wool had been known as one of the most important exports of the country. By tradition the Woolsack is stuffered with wool from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and from Commonwealth countries.

–I see the Peers’ benches, covered in red leather. They are arranged in five rows on either side of the House. Do peers sit on the benches according to the certain order?

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–Members of the Government and their supporters sit to the right of the Throne and those of the Opposition to the left. The galleries are reserved for diplomats and distinguished strangers or guests, and reporters. And now let’s go to the House of Commons.

–I can say it doesn’t look as splendid as the House of Lords. The benches are covered in green leather. The floor is covered by a green carpet bearing on either side a red stripe. Do these stripes serve for decoration or have special meaning?

–Member of Parliament may cross over the stripe when addressing the House. The front bench on the Speaker’s right is for the Prime Minister and the leading members of the Government. The Leader of Opposition and his supporters are on the Speaker’s right.

–I see a gallery over there like in the House of Lords.

–Each Chamber has galleries. They are called Stranger’s Gallery because they are reserved for the public or “strangers”.

–Great Britain is the country of old customs and traditions. Are there any traditions connected with the Houses of Parliament?

–Certainly. About one tradition I have already mentioned. Before every sitting of the House of Commons, the Speaker wearing wig and gown walks in procession to the Chamber from his resident within the Royal Palace. On the

Speaker’s chair there is a switch that puts on the light in the Clock Tower above “Big Ben” to tell Londoners that Parliament is in session.

–I am very grateful to you for the excursion.

–You are always welcome.

b) Make up your own dialogue about the political system in Great Britain, or act the above dialogue.

Ex.11 a) Read and translate the article:

The Royal Family – Worth a Fortune?

(The Opinion of Willie Hamilton, MP)

The way I see it: We can’t afford the Royal Family. I believe it’s immoral to have a Royal family, and immoral to give them special treatment. Personality I have nothing against the Royal family, but some of them are paid a fortune each year and do very little to earn their 100 pounds a day or more. Politically the Queen now has very little power while the Duke of Edinburgh has as much influence on important affairs of state as a country priest. It is difficult to justify paying him more than four times the salary of the Prime Minister.

Prince Charles can’t spend the next twenty years just opening things, eating things or visiting things.

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To justify her well-paid existence Princess Anne is always making meaningless visits.

Princess Margaret makes no attempts to hide her expensive tastes and it is impossible to make out any honest case for her being much use to anybody.

The Queen is known to be among the wealthiest women in the world. It is not wealth that has been created by her own or her financial advisers’ good business sense; it is wealth that has been built up by her special treatment by Parliament. The total wealth is unknown – one of the most closely guarded secrets of modern times.

b)Speak about the article according to the plan.

c)Express your opinion about this issue.

Ex.12 a) Read and translate the text for additional reading:

Tomorrow’s ceremony of Opening of Parliament is not just a chance to don ermine robes and pipe up the pomp and circumstance.

Tomorrow the Queen will open Parliament for what could be its last session before a General Election. The opening ceremony will be a mixture of pageantry and serious political business. Once the Queen has taken her seat on the throne in the House of Lords she will read a speech outlining the new laws the Government is planning to make in the forthcoming parliamentary year.

But the title “Queen’s Speech” is misleading. It is not really the Queen’s Speech at all, but the Government’s. It is not an expression of the Queen’s own views.

This year Queen’s Speech is unlikely to contain as many bills as in previous years. This is because the Government may want to cut short the parliamentary year and call a General Election. The main issues are likely to be a criminal justice bill to change the criminal law, and a “green” bill to clean up the environment.

Other measures expected to be in the Queen’s Speech are new laws to bring privately financed tollroads and new rules to ease traffic congestion in London.

The Queen’s Speech always takes place on Wednesday in November, in the house of Lords at 11 a.m. It is the centerpiece of the State Opening of Parliament. This is the event where the Queen puts on her glittering ceremonial dress and crown and speaks from a throne, watched by her husband, other members of her family and assembled Lords and MPs. The ceremony begins with a procession of carriages from Buckingham Palace, bearing the Queen and her family. On arrival at the House of Lords, she makes her way to the chamber, where the throne is situated, to make her speech. This has been the practice since 1536. She is greeted in the Lords by the peers and peeresses in ermine robes. In the Commons, MPs are waiting to be summoned , dressed slightly less glamorously.

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It is a long-standing tradition that the Monarch never enters the House of Commons. Instead he or she uses a messenger, the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod, usually known as Black Rod, to summon MPs to the Lords.

As Black Rod approaches the Commons chamber across the Central Lobby of the House of Parliament, the door of the Commons is traditionally slammed in his face, a custom which dates from the time Charles I tried to arrest five MPs in 1642.

Black Rod then raps three times on the door with his ebony stick and the door is opened. He proceeds, bowing all the time to the table in front of the Speaker, who maintains order in the debates in the Commons, to summon MPs to the Lords. The Speaker is elected by the House of Commons from among its members. Speakers are MPs, but once elected, they must resign from their party. The current Speaker is Betty Boothroyd. The Speaker, followed by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, then make their way into the Lords, followed by MPs walking two by two, to hear the speech.

b) Answer the questions:

1.Who reads the speech?

2.Who writes the speech? Whose views does the speech represent?

3.On what date is the speech made?

4.Since what time has this ceremony been the practice?

5.Where exactly is the speech made?

6.Who is present while the speech is made?

7.Why does the sovereign send a messenger to the House of Commons?

8.Which paragraphs of the text are concerned with pageantry and which are concerned with serious political business?

9.Which of these words do you think describe this ceremony best? (beautiful, traditional, historic, silly, pompous). Why do you think so?

10.Why do you think this text has such headline? What’s the idea of this article?

Vocabulary

parliamentary monarchy – парламентская монархия to be responsible for – быть ответственным

to conduct – проводить hereditary – наследственный

executive – исполнительный орган judiciary – судебные органы judicial – судебный

assent – согласие

legislative – законодательный

to represent/to be represented – представлять (быть представленным)