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Файл:Английский язык для студентов-юристов и историков = English for Students of Law and History. Учебное пособие
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2. GREAT BRITAIN (I)
Warm up Activities
1. What do you know about Great Britain? Here is a short test. Choose the
correct answer.
1. What is the formal title of the country?
a) the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland;
b) Britain;
c) England.
2. The population of Great Britain is
a) over 67 million people;
b) over 47 million people;
c) over 57 million people.
3. Who presides over the House of Commons?
a) the Prime Minister;
b) the Lord Chancellor;
c) the Speaker.
4. How many parts make the UK?
a) 3;
b) 4;
c) 2.
5. Who is the head of the State in Britain?
a) the Prime Minister;
b) the Queen;
c) the Speaker.
6. Who is the head of the Government in the UK?
a) the Queen;
b) the Speaker;
c) the Prime Minister.
7. The voting age in Great Britain is …
a) 21;
b) 18;
c) 16.
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8. The UK consists of
a) districts;
b) states;
c) counties.
9. What’s the name of the British flag?
a) Stripes and Stars;
b) Union Jack;
c) Welsh Dragon.
10. Margaret Thatcher was
a) the Queen of Britain;
b) the British Prime Minister;
c) the famous writer.
11. Which is the present ruling party?
a) the Conservative Party;
b) the Liberal Party;
c) the Labour Party.
12. Who presides over the House of Lords?
a) the Prime Minister;
b) the Lord Chancellor;
c) the Speaker.
13. The seat of the British Parliament is …
a) the Tower of London;
b) Buckingham Palace;
c) Westminster Palace.
14. The ‘shadow cabinet’ means
a) a cabinet situated in the shadow;
b) the official opposition’s cabinet;
c) a dull cabinet.
1 – 6 – Poor! The following information would be extremely important for you.
Good luck!
7 – 11 – Good job!
12 –14 – Excellent job!
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2. There are a lot of international words, which are used in the text below.
Look through the words and put them into the correct boxes: nouns and
adjectives. Try to guess their meaning.
democracy, monarch, parliament, Catholic, Protestant, historical, factor,
stability, political, democratic, function, constitutional, local, opposition, system,
practice, centre, secret, traditional, leader, cabinet, official
Nouns
Adjectives
democracy
constitutional
Reading
3. Read the text about the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland and explain the words and word combinations in bold.
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1)
Britain is a parliamentary democracy with a constitutional monarch as its head
of State. Its formal title is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The total area is about 120.000 square miles. It is composed of four parts: England
(London), Wales (Cardiff), Scotland (Edinburgh) and Northern Ireland (Belfast).
The east coast is washed by the North Sea and the west coast is washed by the
Atlantic Ocean. There are no high mountains in Great Britain. The highest
mountains are the Snowdon (3000ft.) and the Highlands. The longest rivers are the
Severn and the Thames. The climate of the country is mild. The worst thing about
the climate is the thick fog.
The population of Great Britain is over 57 million people. About 20 per cent of
the British people live in rural areas, the others live in urban districts, towns and
cities.
Great Britain has highly developed industries. One of the leading industries is
the textile industry (Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Bradford). The country is known
for the metal goods (Birmingham, Sheffield), heavy and light machinery and
shipbuilding industries (Newcastle). Among other industries are steel, coal-mining,
oil and engineering. Agriculture is also important industry in Great Britain.
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The official language is English; the capital city of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Northern Ireland is London.
4. Complete this chart with information from the text in Ex.3. Then speak
about the country.
name
area
population
language
capital
largest cities
head of State
longest rivers
highest mountains
main industries
5. Read the text below, translate it, using a dictionary and try to remember
the words and word combinations in bold.
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (2)
Great Britain (England, Wales, and Scotland) came into existence when the
English and Scotland crowns were united at the beginning of the seventeenth century
and their parliaments a century later. Wales had come under the sway of the English
crown in medieval times.
So, too, had Ireland, but the British and Irish parliaments were not united until
1801. In 1922 the southern part of Ireland, predominantly Roman Catholic, became a
separate state.
Northern Ireland, with its Protestant majority, chose to continue as part of the
United Kingdom and had its own parliament between 1921 and 1972. The deeply
rooted historical divisions between the majority Protestant and the minority Roman
Catholic Communities remain a major factor in the continuing civil disturbances in
Northern Ireland; the Government’s aim is to restore peace and stability and to find
ways of giving back to the people more control over their own affairs.
Political stability owes much to the monarchy, the continuity of which has
been broken only once (during the brief republic in the seventeenth century) in over a
thousand years. The monarch’s power is limited by Parliament. Democratic
government has developed from the establishment of Parliament over 700 years ago.
As a constitutional monarch, the Sovereign now performs the functions of an
impartial head of the state.
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6. Read the two texts again and circle the correct answer.
1. Britain is a
a) monarchy.
b) republic.
2. The monarch’s power is
a) absolute.
b) constitutional.
3. Great Britain consists of
a) England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
b) England, Wales and Scotland.
4. The west coast is washed by the
a) Atlantic Ocean.
b) Pacific Ocean.
5. The biggest rivers are
a) the Snowdon and the Highlands.
b) the Severn and the Thames.
6. Most people in Britain live
a) in rural areas.
b) in urban districts.
7. Great Britain
a) is a highly developed industrial country.
b) has no highly developed industries at all.
8. In 1922 the southern part of Ireland became
a) a separate state.
b) a part of the UK.
9. In Northern Ireland there are more
a) Roman Catholics.
b) Protestants.
10. The Government’s aim is
a) to restore peace and stability.
b) to destroy peace and stability.
11. The continuity of the monarchy has been broken
a) in the seventeenth century.
b) in the nineteenth century.
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12. The British Parliament is over
a) 700 years old.
b) 500 years old.
Vocabulary Exercises
7. Find the English equivalents of the following words and phrases in the
text above, then make sentences using them.
в начале 17-го столетия, беспрерывность, продолжающиеся гражданские
беспорядки, средневековые времена, отдельное государство, быть обязанным,
исторический раздел, оставаться основным фактором, меньшинство,
большинство, под властью английской короны, возобновить мир,
демократическое правление, выполнять функции, найти способ.
8. Fill in the correct word(s) from the list.
Sovereign, sway, impartial, brief, head, united.
1. The judge must be ………………. . (fair)
2. The power of the ………………….is hereditary, not elective. (the Queen or
the King)
3. The ……………..of the Russian Federation is the President. (the main
person, the chief)
4. All the people should be …………………..to fight the terrorists. (joined)
5. Germany was under the ………………. of Hitler, whose party won the
majority of seats in Reichstag. (power, influence)
6. Rewrite this article in ………… ! (short)
Speaking
9a. Answer the following questions.
1.When did Great Britain come into existence?
2. Had Wales come under the sway of the English crown? When?
3. Were the British and Irish parliaments united until 1801?
4. Does Northern Ireland have the majority of Protestants or Roman Catholics?
5. What remains a major factor in the continuing civil disturbances in Northern
Ireland?
6. What is the Government’s aim?
7. Has the continuity of the monarchy ever been broken?
8. Who is the monarch’s power limited by?
9. What functions does the Sovereign now perform?
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9b. Speak about the parts of the UK, the history of their unification and
the difficulties of their peaceful co-existence.
Writing
10. Look through the information about Great Britain in Ex. 4. Make
another chart like this and fill it with the details of your own country. Write a
simple introduction to your country.
Just for fun
Britain and the British
1. What's the current Queen's name?
a. Queen Ann I
b. Queen Elizabeth II
c. Queen Margaret II
2. Where does the Changing of the Guard take place?
a. Buckingham Palace
b. Piccadilly Circus
c. Victoria and Albert Museum
3. What is a double-decker?
a. a bus
b. a disco
c. a taxi
4. What is Harrods?
a. a bank
b. a department store
c. a school
5. How many pence are there in 1-pound sterling?
a. 10
b. 100
c. 1000
6. What is the name of the famous stadium in the north of London?
a. Wembley
b. Westminster
c. Wimbledon
7. Which Liverpool band was so popular in the 60's?
a. The Beatles
b. The Police
c. The Rolling Stones
8. In Britain, cars are driven on the ________ side of the road.
a. left-hand
b. right-hand
c. wrong-hand
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9. Dame Agatha Christie wrote lots of ________
a. detective stories
b. plays
c. poems
10. Manchester United is a popular ______ team.
a. basketball
b. football
c. handball
11. Which famous writer was born in Stratford-upon-Avon?
a. Samuel Beckett
b. James Joyce
c. William Shakespeare
12. Which king had 6 wives?
a. Henry IV
b. Henry V
с. Henry VIII
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3. GREAT BRITAIN (II)
Warm up Activities
1. Match the words to the definitions.
1. a peer
a) a female sovereign who is the official ruler or head of
state
2. a lord
b) a person who holds any of the five grades of the British
nobility (duke, marques, earl, viscount, and baron)
3. the Queen
c) the executive policy-making body of a country or state or
a system by which a country or state is ruled
4. government
d) the highest law-making authority in Britain, consisting of
the House of Commons, the House of Lords, and the
sovereign
5. voting
e) a building for public Christian worship
6. authorities
f) a title given to certain male peers or to certain high
officials or judges
7. the
Constitution
j) a process of making a choice by vote by a participant in a
shared decision, esp. in electing a candidate
8. a church
h) a decision-making organization or government
department
9. Parliament
i) the statute embodying principles on which a state is
governed
Reading
2. Some fragments of the sentences have been removed from the text.
Choose from the fragments the one, which fits each gap.
every five years, hereditary and life peers and peeresses, majority support, the
Commons, the official opposition, by Parliament, consisting of 635 members of
Parliament, elected authorities.
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (3)
Parliament comprises the House of Lords and the House of Commons, together
with the Queen in her constitutional role. The Lords is made up of
…………………………………………………….. and the two archbishops and 24
most senior bishops of the established Church of England. The Commons is the
elected House, …………………………………………….. (MPs), each representing
a local constituency area.
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The two-chamber system has long been feature of British parliamentary
government, although over the years the balance between the two Houses has
undergone a complete change. In modern practice the centre of parliamentary power
is in ………………….…. . Limitations on the Lords’ powers of legislative veto are
based on the belief that the main function of the House is to complement the
Commons and not to rival it.
General elections to choose MPs and the next Government must be held at
least ……………. . Voting, which is not compulsory, is by secret ballot and is from
the age of 18.
Under the traditional two-party system governments are formed by the party,
which has ……………………….. in the Commons. The leader of the government,
the Prime Minister, chooses a number of ministers, including 20 or so in the cabinet.
The second largest party traditionally forms …………………………….. with its
own leader and ‘shadow cabinet’. Ministers are collectively responsible for
government decisions, and individually responsible for their own departments.
Local government is carried out by ……………………………….., which deal
with planning and housing, education, personal services, police, fire brigades and
many other local services. The authorities are given their power
…………………………. and have considerable freedom to govern local affairs in
their own way.
Vocabulary Exercises
3. Find the words in the text below that mean:
• to consist
• the area represented by a Member of Parliament
• restrictions
• not obligatory
• together
• to concern
• to compete
4. Fill in the appropriate word(s) from the list, then make sentences using
the completed phrases.
hereditary and life, most senior, established, undergo, complement, fire,
shadow, government
the …………….. bishops ……………… peers
to ……………… a complete change the ………….. Church
the …………….. cabinet……………… decisions
………………… brigades to …………… the Commons
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