2. Find as many synonyms as you can:

Ruler, to pass laws, to debate laws, to take a seat, to retain a seat, to hold power, to exercise power, to reassemble, to stick to rules

3. Translate the sentences into English

1. В Великобритании в случае отставки или смерти депутата Палаты Общин в его округе проводятся дополнительные выборы. 2. Опрос общественного мнения показал, что место получит кандидат от консерваторов. 3. Парламент состоит из трех институтов: палаты лордов, палаты общин и монархии. 4. Парламент контролирует работу правительства, изучая его политику в специальных комитетах. 5. Палата лордов состоит из наследственных пэров, унаследовавших свой титул, пожизненных пэров, получивших титул в награду за службу, и лидеров англиканской церкви, епископов и архиепископов. 6. Наследные пэры - это люди, чей титул перешел к ним по наследству после смерти их родителей. 7. Пожизненные пэры – это люди, получившие свой титул в качестве награды за их вклад в жизнь общества, но их дети не могут наследовать этот титул. 8. По конституции народ обладает абсолютной властью и может осуществлять ее посредством голосования на выборах. 9. Депутат от этого округа был убит вскоре после того, как занял свое место в парламенте. 10.Парламент в Британии появился всего лишь через несколько веков после Норманнского завоевания. 11. В прежнем составе парламента место от этого округа занимал депутат от либеральных демократов, однако, недавние выборы изменили ситуацию. 12. Каждый депутат британского парламента должен придерживаться правил и традиций, складывавшихся столетиями. 13. Во время парламентских каникул произошел правительственный кризис и депутаты были вынуждены собраться раньше срока. 14. Сбор налогов – очень щекотливый вопрос, и принятие налогового законодательства всегда требует долгих обсуждений. 15. Вчера, после долгих обсуждений, законодательный орган Ленинградской области принял закон, запрещающий продажу алкоголя после девяти часов вечера. Видимо, это было сделано вслед за петербургской городской Думой, принявшей аналогичный закон на прошлой неделе. 16. Чудовищное убийство депутата от консерваторов вызвало огромный общественный резонанс. 17. Средневековые короли призывали советников в свою резиденцию, что было предтечей современного парламента. 18. Парламентские комитеты изучают политику, которую вырабатывают министры правительства, и либо одобряют ее, либо критикуют и просят правительство пересмотреть свою точку зрения. 19. Хотя политические обозреватели официально не наделены властью, они довольно влиятельны, так как не только отражают текущие политические события, но и стараются влиять на их развитие через прессу. 20. Именно король Генрих III был первым монархом, официально признавшим парламент.

4. Translate the underlined passage into Russian. Reading for Vocabulary 2.4.

Law-making in theory and practice

Before you read. Think over the following questions:

- Can you describe the way a bill becomes a law in your country (or any other country of the world)?

- Is keeping to old traditions in such procedures as adopting legislative drafts really justified?

Read the following text.

Parliament’s main role is to approve legislation. That sounds simple in theory. But in practice the process of turning an idea into a law is long and immensely complicated.

Laws begin life as legislative drafts, or bills, which are put before Parliament for amendment and approval. There are two types of bill – public and private. Public bills are far more important as they relate to matters of general concern and have to be introduced to Parliament by an MP or peer. Private bills deal with issues affecting a specific individual, group or company, and are introduced by the affected party themselves.

Private Members’ bills are drafted by individual MPs who can only introduce them if their names are picked out of a hat. There is little chance of these ever becoming law, unless they have the backing of the government of the day. The main route to legislation is through government bills, which account for most of the debates in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords. These are put forward by the government, made up of the Prime Minister and about 90 Cabinet and junior ministers whom she or he selects.

Bills may range from proposals for simple administrative reforms to highly controversial political changes such as the privatisation of nationalised industries and restriction of trade union practices. The recommendations behind them may come from government ministers themselves, or from their civil servants and informal party advisers. If the government is worried about the public response to their ideas, they may test the water first by issuing a Green or White Paper which sets out the proposals for consultation and discussion. The bill is then drafted by legal officials several months before it is laid in front of Parliament. It can be introduced into the House of Lords, but it is usually first debated in the Commons.

When a bill is introduced it automatically obtains its first approval, or “reading”. This term originated in the days before printing, when bills had to be read aloud. The first stage at which a bill is properly debated is called the “second reading”. This stage focuses on the principles behind the bill and does not consider its finer details. Bills are always opposed during their passage through the House of Commons.

MPs have an old-fashioned system for voting. Votes are called a division, because members divide into two rooms on either side of the chamber – the Aye (Yes) and the No lobbies. They then file back into the chamber and are counted as they do so by clerks. A division can take up to 20 minutes to complete, and if there are many votes in a single reading MPs can be kept up all night. Then the bill is examined in detail by a group of about 20 specially selected MPs in a “standing committee”, one of a number of parliamentary committees. These committees can make amendments to the bill, although they rarely make major changes. They can take from a few minutes to three months to consider it.

When the standing committee has completed its discussions it “reports” back to the full House of Commons. This opens the “report stage” in which any new amendments are debated. The Speaker of the House chairs debates in the Commons. His is the voice heard shouting “Order, order!” when MPs are unruly. MPs can only address the House if they are called by the Speaker.

The last hurdle a bill has to pass in the Commons is the “third reading”. It is unusual for a bill to be rejected at this stage. The government may use its majority to cut short debate through a “guillotine motion”, which orders one or more stages of a bill to be completed by a fixed date or within a fixed number of sittings of the House or committee.

From the Commons, the bill passes through the same process of first and second readings, committee and report stages and third reading in the House of Lords. As a final check, a bill passes back to the Commons, where MPs discuss any changes made in the Lords. It receives the Royal Assent which is granted automatically. At last the bill becomes an act.

The process from first reading to Royal Assent can take from a matter of days for urgent bills where MPs are in agreement, to up to 11 months in the case of controversial legislation.