ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОЕ ОБРАЗОВАТЕЛЬНОЕ

УЧРЕЖДЕНИЕ ВЫСШЕГО ПРОФЕССИОНАЛЬНОГО

ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ

«РОССИЙСКАЯ АКАДЕМИЯ ПРАВОСУДИЯ»

РОСТОВСКИЙ ФИЛИАЛ

КАФЕДРА ЯЗЫКОЗНАНИЯ И ИНОСТРАННЫХ ЯЗЫКОВ

Английский язык.

Сборник устных тем

для студентов очной формы обучения

(специальность 030501.65 – «Юриспруденция»)

Ростов-на-Дону

2010

Авторы-составители:

Сосканова М.Р., кандидат философских наук, старший преподаватель кафедры языкознания и иностранных языков Ростовского филиала Российской академии правосудия

Лысенко Н.А., старший преподаватель кафедры языкознания и иностранных языков Ростовского филиала Российской академии правосудия

Рецензенты:

Кудряшов И.А., доктор филологических наук, профессор ФОУ ВПО ПИ ЮФУ.

Гришечко О.С., кандидат филологических наук, доцент ФОУ ВПО ПИ ЮФУ.

Сборник одобрен кафедрой языкознания и иностранных языков Ростовского филиала Российской академии правосудия (протокол № 5 от 25 декабря 2009 г.)

Рекомендован к изданию УМС Ростовского филиала Российской академии правосудия (протокол № 2010 г.).

© Ростовский филиал Российской академии правосудия, 2010

© Сосканова М.Р. Лысенко Н.А., 2010

Предлагаемый сборник направлен на развитие навыков чтения, перевода и монологической речи студентов первого и второго курсов юридического факультета, изучающих английский язык на дневном отделении.

Лексический материал подобран с учетом требований, предъявляемых студентам 1 и 2 курса юридического факультета очной формы обучения.

Основными целями пособия являются:

• обеспечение студентов лексическим материалом для последующего изучения на аудиторных и внеаудиторных занятиях

• активизация навыков разговорной речи

• расширение и обогащение словарного запаса студентов по основным лексическим темам

Содержание

1. Сlimate and weather……………………………………………………….5

2. Environmental protection………………………………………………….6

3. Work and jobs…………………………………………………………….11

4. My future profession……………………………………………………...12

5. In the USA:The Media……………………………………………………14

6. In Britain: The Media…………………………………………………….16

7. Geography of the USA……………………………………………………18

8. The American Political System…………………………………………..20

9. The Judicial system of the United States of America…………………...22

10. Higher education in the USA…………………………………………….23

11. Legal education in the USA..…………………………………………….26

12. The American legal profession…………………………………………..27

13. The Geography of the UK……………………………………………….29

14. The Political system of the UK…………………………………………..31

15. The Court system of the UK……………………………………………..33

16. The Legal profession in Great Britain………………………………......35

17. The Geography of the Russian Federation …………………………….37

18. The Political set-up of the Russian Federation…………………………38

19. Judicial system of the Russian Federation……………………………...41

20. Higher education in Russia………………………………………………43

21. Rostov academy of justice and legal training in Russia……………….46

22. The legal profession in Russia…………………………………………...48

23. International law…………………………………………………………50

CLIMATE AND WEATHER

Warming-up questions

1. How many seasons are there in a year?

2. When does nature awaken from her long winter sleep?

3. Is summer the best season for tourism?

THE SEASONS AND THE WEATHER

There are four seasons in a year: spring, summer, autumn and winter. Every season lasts three months.

Winter usually begins in December and ends in March. In Russia winter is usually a cold season. It often snows, the rivers and lakes are frozen over. The average temperature is about 5 degrees below zero.

It gets dark early in the evening. It gets light late in the morning. In winter we have the shortest days and the longest nights. It is difficult and unpleasant to get up early in the morning in winter because it is dark and cold, the sky is often grey, nature is sleeping.

But winter is a good time for sports. In winter we can go in for such kinds of sport as skating and skiing. It is very pleasant to go skiing in the country on a bright sunny day. At the end of winter the sun begins to shine as brightly as in spring, but it is not so warm as in spring yet.

Spring comes in March. The sun begins to shine more brightly, the days become longer and the first spring flowers appear everywhere. Everything is so fresh and so beautiful, nature awakens after a long sleep of winter. Everybody enjoys the beginning of spring. The birds return from the South. Everything around is full of life and joy, the sky is blue and cloudless.

At the beginning of spring it is still cold, but at the end of spring it gets much warmer. Sometimes it rains. But the rain does not last long, sometimes there are storms with thunder and lightning, and it is not so warm as in summer.

Summer is the warmest season of the year. It begins in June and ends in August. July is the warmest month of the year. The sky is blue. The sun is bright and hot. In summer we have the longest days and the shortest nights. It rains but the rain is warm and the flower smell sweet. Most people have their holidays in summer and spend a lot of time in the open air. The countryside looks very nice and most people leave town for the country. We can swim and bathe, we can play tennis and football, have a walk through the fields and meadows.

After summer comes autumn. Autumn is the harvest time, when the fruit and vegetables become ripe, the corn gets golden in the fields. Autumn is very beautiful at the beginning when it is still warm and the leaves are getting yellow and red. In late September people enjoy Indian Summer, when the weather is still warm and in the air you can feel gossamer. Little by little the days become shorter and the nights become longer. It gets colder and colder. In October and November it often rains and people put on raincoats and take umbrellas. The streets, the houses, the trees are wet with rain, heavy clouds hang in the sky. But every season is pleasant in its own way.

Climate

In the first place the climate varies according to altitude. On the equator at a height of 8,000 metres it is no warmer than in England at sea level. The highest point is the coldest.

Another factor is the effect of ocean currents. Thus the British Isles lie in the way of the warm Golf Stream. The warm air rising from the Golf Stream surrounds Great Britain and prevents the freezing of the rivers even on the coldest days. In spite of lying at the same distance from the equator Moscow and London have a different climate: the average temperature in London is higher than that in Moscow.

Finally there are the effects of prevailing winds blowing across the Atlantic and carrying warm air, which keeps the winter climate mild, moist and foggy.

The climate of a country is one of the factors that influence the style of its architecture. It can be best illustrated by British residential buildings. The weather in England is often cloudy and there are few sunny days. Therefore, the windows in an English house are of a large size to catch as much light and sunshine as possible.

Since there is much rain in England, typical British houses have high, steep roofs where rain water and melting snow can easily flow down.

Most of the houses have a fireplace which forms the most characteristic feature of an English home.

The plan of an English house also differs from that of the houses where we live. English architects plan some apartments vertically instead of planning them horizontally, so that an English family having a separate apartment lives on two or sometimes three floors with rooms connected with a narrow staircase. They find it the most convenient style of apartment.

An Englishman prefers to have an individual cottage in the suburbs. But the problem of housing brought about great changes into the architectural design of modern houses which differ greatly from those of the older type. The typical features of ah English house are disappearing one by one, which makes it look like a standard residence in any country.

Comprehension check

1. Do you like Indian summer? Why?

2. Do you like late autumn?

3. What do you like usually do on a nasty rainy day?

4. What is the weather like in winter in your city?

5. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each season?

Environmental protection Warming-up questions

1. What kinds of environmental damage affect you most?

2. What laws are there in Russia to prevent environmental damage?

3. Do you think the situation will improve in the future?

Environmental protection is one of the main problems of today. Industrial civilisation is characterised by numerous factories and power stations, automobiles and aeroplanes. Technological progress improves people’s lives, but at the same time it causes numerous problems that were unimaginable in the past centuries. Through their daily activities people pollute and contaminate land, water and air. Today pollution has become a universal problem. Both the atmosphere of the Earth and the depths of the oceans are poisoned with toxic wastes created by the humans. Millions of species – animals, birds, fish have already disappeared from our planet; thousands of others will be gone tomorrow. Natural resources are exhausted; the ecology of the planet is disbalanced. The survival of our civilisation depends on the ability of mankind to find a way out. The task of protecting the nature is of primary importance now.

Big cities face the environmental catastrophe. Concentration of millions of people on a tiny area causes numerous problems. Some of them can be solved only at the expense of creating new ones. For example, air pollution is caused by the ever-increasing number of automobiles that help to cope with the transportation problem. The need for energy generates pollution on a large scale. Energy that derives from fossil fuels contaminates the atmosphere. Nuclear power plants threaten air, water and land. The necessity to employ all the inhabitants of the city leads to the creation of new factories that produce not only consumer goods, but wastes and smog as well. Constant carbon dioxide emissions is a characteristic feature of big cities. Pollution of water by both industrial and domestic users creates the problem of water deficit. One form of pollution that is characteristic of large urban cities is noise that has destructive influence on a person’s mind. Litter is another issue that people face in big cities. As a result of it big industrial centres today look more like garbage dumps.

It would be naive to think that the environmental problems are limited to big cities only. Our Earth is a living entity; land, air and water are inseparable. Water contaminated in big cities runs to the major rivers that then flow into oceans and seas, thus affecting places far from the point of origin. The atmosphere is in constant movement; the air polluted in the United States can travel the next day to Russia poisoning our people.

Another source of global danger is acid rain. It is a relatively new kind of pollution. Acid rains appeared as a reaction of the atmosphere to the air contamination. Acid rains damage water, forest, and soil resources. Acid rains cause the disappearance of fish from many lakes, bring death to the forests and woods in Europe and America. One more danger comes from the depletion of the ozone layer, which absorbs ultraviolet radiation from the Sun. If it continues it will damage all living organisms on our planet.

The only thing that people fail to realise is that humanity is also part of the biosphere and that people depend completely on the environment. The war on nature that mankind is waging today is a kind of collective suicide. People pollute the air that they breathe, poison the water that they drink. The most evident example of such suicidal tendencies is smoking. Smoking not only harms the health of the smoker, but also is destructive for others. That is why many countries passed laws to restrict smoking in public and at work.

Beginning with the 1960s the pollution problems have received great publicity. Recently the environmental movement has gained widespread support. Environmental activists, organisations of volunteers do their best to stop pollution of our planet. Due to such groups many laws aimed at environmental protection have been passed. Such laws as the Clean Air Act, Water Pollution Control Act, Endangered Species Act led to considerable specific improvements in the environment. Numerous chemicals, fertilisers and gases that were once used in agriculture and industry are banned today. Standards for food have become strict, because agricultural chemicals, used for growing crops, may poison people and end up in food and water supply. In many countries purifying systems for treatment of industrial waters have been installed, measures have been taken to protect rivers and seas from oil waters.

Greenpeace organisation was created in 1987. This organisation carries out numerous campaigns against the global environmental pollution. The protection of natural resources and wild animals is becoming a political programme in every country.

Public attention to the problem of pollution has now become part of the contemporary life. The solution of this global problem requires the co-operation of all nations. People also worry about the dangers resulting from massive releases of radioactive materials from nuclear weapons, which, if used on a major scale, could seriously endanger the humanity. Another concern is accidents at nuclear power plants. In 1978 a nuclear power plant in the United States suffered a severe accident leading to radioactive contamination of water and atmosphere. In 1986 the Chernobyl nuclear power plant near Kiev suffered a fire and a serious breakdown that led to a radioactive explosion. The contaminated air was soon carried to northern and eastern European countries that suffered radioactive rains.

To protect nature people should change their attitude to it. Man should stop taking from nature everything he needs and give it his love instead. Otherwise the price that mankind will have to pay will be too high. It is good that at last people started to realise that they should keep air and water clean by establishing strict pollution control. Efforts are made to reduce pollution from automobile engines by developing pollution-free engines, which may eventually eliminate the more serious air pollution problems. Certain countries have already agreed to limit their carbon dioxide emissions. Moreover, the strong public reaction can facilitate the exercise of absolute pollution control in various contamination industries.