Vocabulary:

a set- свод

basic freedoms, rights- основные свободы, права

to obey- повиноваться, выполнять

to set forth- излагать

private domain- личная свобода

distribution of resources- распределение ресурсов

2. Give the Russian words with the same stem:

base; constitution; tradition; to form; principle; to guarantee; to concentrate; nation; to control.

3. Find the English equivalents for:

- справедливость;

- спокойствие;

- благосостояние;

- благо; благодеяние;

- потомство; потомки;

- свод законов, правил, традиций;

- принять конституцию;

- поправка к Конституции;

- нарушать закон;

- согласие большинства;

- вмешиваться;

- перечислять;

- выполнять, исполнять закон.

4. Express your agreement or disagreement with each statement using: I quite /completely agree, I can’t agree, I think it is not so, it’s wrong, on the contrary.

1. The American Constitution was adopted after the War of Independence and it remains unchanged so far.

2. The US Constitution consists of 10 articles and 50 amendments.

3. The US Constitution guarantees freedom of those in power.

5. Write these sentences in the Passive Voice form and translate them into Russian:

1. The USA adopted the Constitution in 1787.

2. The Constitution provides the set of rules, laws and regulations to regulate the work of the government.

3. Some historians regard the Constitution as a conservative document.

4. In some countries the oligarchy can control the government.

6. Read the text without a dictionary and try to catch the main idea:

The Amendment Process

We have a living Constitution. Men wrote it in 1787, and we still use it today. These men were intelligent. “The U.S will change in the future “they thought. “We must find the way to let the Constitution change too.” And they did.

They put in the amendment process. This process is important. Amendments can change the part of an article in the Constitution or another amendment.

Two/thirds (2/3) of the Congress or of the state legislature must agree on an idea for an amendment. If three-fourth (3/4) of the states ratifies the amendment, it becomes a part of the Constitution.

7. Answer the questions:

1. What does a “constitution” mean in American political language?

2. What is the aim of the US Constitution?

3. What does it consist of?

4. What is the Bill of Rights?

5. What do you think about the peculiarities of the US Constitution?

8. Read and translate the text:

Us constitution II

The former colonies, now “the United States of America”, first operated under the agreement called the Articles of Confederation (1781). It was soon clear that this loose agreement among the states was not working well. The central, federal government was too weak, with too few powers for defence, trade and taxation. In 1787, therefore, delegates from the states met in Philadelphia. They wanted to revise the Articles, but they did much more than that. They wrote a completely new document, the Constitution, which after much argument, debate, and compromise was finished in the same year and officially adopted by the thirteen states by 1790.

The Constitution, the oldest still in force in the world, sets the basic form of government: three separate branches, each one having powers (“checks and balances”) over the others. It specifies the powers and duties of each federal branch of government, with all other powers and duties belonging to the states. The Constitution has been repeatedly amended to meet the changing needs of the nation, but is still the “supreme law of the land”. All governments and governmental groups, federal, state, and local must operate within its guidelines. The ultimate power under the Constitution is not given to the President (the executive branch), or to the Supreme Court (the judicial branch). Nor does it rest, as in many other countries, with a political group or party. It belongs to “We the People, in fact and in spirit”.

They stated in the first ten Constitutional Amendments, known together as the Bill of Rights, what they considered to be the fundamental rights of any American. Among these rights are the freedoms of religion, speech, and the press, the right of peaceful assembly, and the right to petition the government to correct wrongs. Other rights guarded the citizens against unreasonable searches, arrests, and seizures of property, and established a system of justice guaranteeing orderly legal procedures. This included the right of trial by jury that is, being judged by fellow citizens.

The federal and state governments formed under the Constitution were designed to serve the people and to carry out their majority wishes (and not the other way around). One thing they do not want their government to do is to rule them. Americans expect their government to serve them and tend to think of politicians and governmental officials as their servants. This attitude remains very strong among Americans today.

Over the past two centuries, the Constitution has also had considerable influence outside the United States. Several other nations have based their own forms of government on it. It is interesting to note that Lafayette, a hero of the American Revolution, drafted the French declaration of rights when he returned to France. And the United Nations Charter also has clear echoes of what once was considered a revolutionary document.