Who can be elected

1. a Senator?

2. a representative?

3. the President?

1. at least 35 years old, be a natural citizen of the USA, must have lived in the US for at least 14 years, and be a civilian;

2. at least 30 years old, a citizen of the USA for 9 years, and live in the state she or he will represent;

3. at least 25 years old, a citizen of the USA for 7 years, and live in the state.

Great britain

Learn the following words:

1. the total area – общая площадь

2. total population

3. to include - включать

4. to be divided - делиться

5. an insular climate – островной климат

6. humid - влажный

7. to consist (of)– состоять из

8. a county – графство(админ. единица в Англии), округ(в США)

9. to occupy - занимать

10. to amount to – доходить, составлять, равняться

11. a parliamentary monarchy

12. the head of state – глава государства

13. to act on the advice of – действовать по совету

14. legislation - законодательство

15. to decide – решать, принимать решение

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16. judicature – суд, отправление правосудия, судоустройство

17. to elect - избирать

18. a general election

19. a nation-wide representative body – общенациональный представительный орган

20. to appoint - назначать

21. to compose – составлять; состоять из

22. highly-developed

Разделите слова и выражения по темам:

1. географическое положение

2. климат

3. административное деление

4. политическое устройство

5. экономика

to be situated, total area, the head of state, total population, to be divided, king, highly-developed, parliament, island, to compose, leading party, capital, to include, to appoint, machine-building, to be washed, to elect, mild, government, to be separated, a county, ship-building, parliamentary monarchy, peninsula, river, insular, to occupy, humid, to consist, to amount, the queen, metallurgy, absolute, to act on the advice of, written constitution, legislation, electronics, a nation-wide representative body, a general election, moderating influence of the sea, official language.

Read the text and answer the following questions:

1. What are the main parts of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland?

2. How many islands is the UK situated on? What are the largest?

3. When was the British constitution adopted?

4. Who is the head of the state in Great Britain?

5. Who is appointed the head of the government?

Great britain

Great Britain (official name —the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) is situated on two large islands, the larger of which is Great Britain, the smaller is Ireland. In addition to these two islands Great Britain includes over five hundred small islands. The total area of Great Britain is 240,000sq. kms, its population is56,000,000people.

In the north-west and west the country is washed by the Atlantic Ocean and the Irish Sea, in the east —by the North Sea. The island of Great Britain is separated from France by the English Channel. Northern Ireland, which is a part of Great Britain and which is situated on the island of Ireland, is separated from Great Britain by the North Channel.

The island of Great Britain is divided into two parts: mountainous (in the north and west of the island) and lowland (in the south and east). There are no very long rivers in Great Britain. The most important rivers are the Thames (the deepest) and

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the Severn (the longest). The rivers seldom freeze in winter. Due to moderating influence of the sea Great Britain has an insular climate, rather humid and mild, without striking discrepancy between seasons.

Great Britain consists of four main parts: England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Administratively Great Britain is divided into 55counties. The biggest cities of Great Britain are London, Birmingham, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, Edinburgh, and Cardiff.

England is the largest part of Great Britain (it occupies over 50%of the territory and its population amounts to 83 %of the total population of Great Britain). Wales is a peninsula in the south-west of the island of Great Britain. It occupies about 9 %of its territory with the population of 4.8 %of the total population. The Welsh speak their own language. Scotland is the most northern part of Great Britain with the territory of 32%of the total territory and with the population of 9 %of the total population of Great Britain. Northern Ireland occupies the north-east part of the island of Ireland. Its territory amounts to 5.2 %of the total territory of Great Britain. The main cities of Nothern Ireland are Belfast and Londonderry.

Great Britain is a parliamentary monarchy. Officially the head of the state is the Queen (or the King). However, the power of the Queen in Great Britain is not absolute. She acts only on the advice of the ministers and Parliament. There is no written constitution in Great Britain. The main principles of British legislation are expressed in other documents, like "Magna Charta"*, "Habeas Corpus Act"**, "Bill of Rights", the Parlimentary Act which decided the position of the House of Lords, the Judicature Act, etc. The British leg­islation does not provide written guarantees of individual political rights.

Parliament in Great Britain exists since 1265and is the eldest Parliament in the world. It consists of two Houses —the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The House of Lords consists of1000peers who are not elected by the people. The House of Commons is a nation-wide representative body which is elected by the people at a general election not less frequently than once in 5years. After the general election the Queen appoints the head of the government —the Prime Minister. As a rule the Prime Minister is the leader of the party that has won the election. The Prime Minister appoints the ministers to compose the government.

There are two main political parties in Great Britain: the Conservative party and the Labour party. The Conservative party came into being in the 19th century as a result of the evolution of the Tory party. The Labour party was founded in 1900.Since 1906it has borne the name of the Labour Party. For the first time the Labour Party won the election in 1945.

Great Britain is a highly-developed industrial country. The main fields of British industry are machine-building, ship-building, metallurgy, electronics, etc.

* “Magna Charta”[`mægn`k:t] – Великая хартия вольностей (1215)

** “Habeas Corpus Act” – анг. закон 1679г. о неприкосновенности личности