Text A. The British monarchy today

КОНТРОЛЬНАЯ РАБОТА №1

Text C. THE HOUSE OF LORDS

The House of Lords has more than 1,000 members, although only about 250 take an active part in the work of the House. Members of the House of Lords are not elected, they sit there because of their rank and do not receive a salary. There are 26 Anglican bishops, 800 hereditary peers, 11 judges and 400 life peers. The chairman of the House of Lords is the Lord Chancellor, who sits on the Woolsack.

The Sovereign’s throne is in the House of Lords, and the Queen sits on it once a year to make her speech, prepared by the Government, at the opening of an annual session of Parliament.

Members of the House of Lords debate a bill after it has been passed by the House of Commons. Changes may be recommended, and agreement be­tween the two Houses is reached by negotiation. The Lords’ main power consists of being able to delay non-financial bills for a period of a few months, but they can also introduce certain types of bill. One of the oldest functions of the House of Lords is judicial. It works as the highest and final Court of Appeal.

The House of Lords is the only non-elected second chamber among all the democracies in the world, and some people in Britain would like to abolish it.

5. Выпишите из текста эквиваленты следующих слов и выражений: случай; ограниченные права; единство нации; наследственный принцип; процесс принятия решения; ответственность; принимать участие; звание; жалование; ежегодная сессия.

6. Выпишите из текста 2 предложения, содержащие сказуемое в активном залоге. Подчеркните сказуемое и определите его видовременную форму. Измените предложения таким образом, чтобы сказуемое имело все возможные грамматические формы.

7. Выпишите из текста 2 предложения, содержащие сказуемое в пассивном залоге. Подчеркните сказуемое и определите его видовременную форму. Переведите предложения на русский язык.

8. Составьте резюме, используя образец стр. 27.

Вариант №2

Выполните следующие задания:

1. Образуйте форму множественного числа следующих существительных: a court, an advice, a process, a bill, a duty, a party, a stage, a signature.

2. Поставьте все личные местоимения в объектном падеже и напишите соответствующие им формы притяжательных местоимений.

3. Образуйте степени сравнения следующих прилагательных: large, small, new, many, simple, famous, interesting, general.

4. Прочтите и переведите тексты. Текст В переведите письменно.

The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy. This means that it has a monarch (a king or a queen) as its Head of State. The monarch reigns with the support of Parliament. The powers of the monarch are not defined precisely. Everything today is done in the Queen’s name. It is her government, her armed forces, her law courts and so on. She appoints all the Ministers, including the Prime Minister. Everything is done however on the advice of the elected Government, and the monarch takes no part in the decision-making process.

Once the British Empire included a large number of countries all over the world ruled by Britain. The process of decolonisation began in 1947 with the independence of India, Pakistan and Ceylon. Now, apart from Hong Kong and a few small islands, there is no longer an empire. But the British ruling classes tried not to lose influence over the former colonies of the British Empire. An association of former members of the British Empire and Britain was founded in 1949. It is called the Commonwealth. It includes many countries such as Ireland, Burma, the Sudan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and others. The Queen of Great Britain is also the Head of the Commonwealth, and so the Queen of Canada, Australia, New Zealand...

The Queen is very rich as are other members of the royal family. In addition, the government pays for her expenses as Head of State, for a royal yacht, train and aircraft as well as for the upkeep of several palaces. The Queen’s image appears on stamps, notes and coins.

Parliament consists of two chambers known as the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Parliament and the monarch have different roles in the government of the country, and they only meet together on symbolic occasions such as the coronation of a new monarch or the opening of Parliament. In reality, the House of Commons is the only one of the three which has true power. It is here that new bills are introduced and debated. If the majority of the members are in favour of a bill it goes to the House of Lords to be debated and finally to the monarch to be signed. Only then it becomes law. Although a bill must be supported by all three bodies, the House of Lords only has limited powers, and the monarch has not refused to sign one since the modern political system began over 200 years ago.

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