- •I. Us government
- •1. Read and translate the text:
- •Vocabulary:
- •Vocabulary notes:
- •Duties of the President and Vice-President
- •5. Match the departments (left column) with their responsibilities (right column):
- •III. Legislative branch: the congress
- •1. Read and translate the text:
- •Vocabulary:
- •5. Complete the following text by translating the words or expressions in brackets:
- •6. Speak on:
- •IV. The judicial system of the u.S.A.
- •Vocabulary:
- •1. Give the English equivalents for the following words and word combinations:
- •4. Speak on:
- •Unit II
- •I. Us constitution I
- •Vocabulary:
- •Us constitution II
- •Vocabulary:
- •10. Find the English equivalents for:
- •11. Speak on:
- •2. Answer the questions:
- •3. Discuss the following questions:
- •1. Read and translate the text:
- •Vocabulary:
- •1. Give the English equivalents for:
- •2. Choose the correct answer:
- •3. Shorten the text above writing out the key sentences from it and try to retell it.
- •4. Read the text without a dictionary. Try to catch the main idea: the separation of powers in state governments
- •Vocabulary:
- •5. Say if the following statements are true or false (see the text above):
- •Unit III.
- •Major political parties
- •1. Read and translate the text:
- •Vocabulary:
- •2. Give the English equivalents for:
- •3. Match each word on the left with the right definition on the right:
- •4. Answer the questions:
- •Vocabulary:
- •6. Say what party is spoken about in each sentence:
- •7. Speak on:
- •1. Read and translate the text:
- •Vocabulary:
- •Political attitudes
- •Courts in the united states
- •Cost of government
- •The constitution as a supreme law
- •The lawmaking process
- •Power in international relations
- •Elections
- •Библиографический список
Cost of government
The average cost of all governments- federal, state, and local- to each man, woman and child in the United States is 4539$ a year. About two-thirds of all taxes collected go to the federal government.
The individual income tax provides the federal government slightly less than half its revenues. A person with an average income pays about 11 per cent of it to the government; those with very large incomes must pay up to 50 per cent. Many states also have their own income taxes. Many other taxes- on property, entertainments, automobiles, etc. - are levied to provide funds for national, state and local governments.
Federal government spending for defence purposes, including military help to other nations, has fallen as a portion of total government expenditures from 58.7 per cent in 1958 to 25.7 per cent in fiscal year 1981. The remaining 74.3 per cent of the federal budget has gone into public welfare programmes, development of water and land resources, public health and education. As a result of the expansion and increased costs of government services, the national debt has increased greatly since World War II.
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The constitution as a supreme law
The U.S. Constitution calls itself the “supreme law of the land”. This clause is taken to mean that when state constitutions or laws passed by state legislatures or the national Congress are found to conflict with the federal Constitution, they have no force.
Final authority is vested in the American people, who can change the fundamental law, if they wish, by amending the Constitution. The people do not exercise their authority directly, however. They delegate the day-to-day business of government to public officials, both elected and appointed.
The power of public officials is limited. Their public actions must conform to the Constitution and to the laws made in accordance with the Constitution. Elected officials must stand for re-election at periodic intervals. Appointed officials serve at the pleasure of the person or authority that appointed them, and ma be removed when their performance is unsatisfactory. The exception of this practice is the lifetime appointment by the president of justices of the Supreme Court and other federal judges, so that they may be free of political obligations or influence.
Most commonly, the American people express their will through the ballot box. The Constitution, however, does make provision for the removal of a public official from office, in cases of extreme misconduct, by the process of impeachment. Article II. Section 4 reads:
The President, Vice President, and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.
Impeachment is a charge of misconduct brought against a government official by a legislative body: it does not, as is commonly thought, refer to conviction on such charges. The House of Representatives must bring charges of misconduct by voting a bill of impeachment. The accused official is then tried in the Senate, with the chief justice of the Supreme Court presiding at the trial.
Impeachment has been used on only rare occasions in the United States. The House of Representatives has voted articles of impeachment just 17 times in the history of the country.13 of the 17 persons who have been impeached were federal judges, as all seven individuals were convicted by the Senate.
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