The American civil service

Русском языке.

I. Прочитайте текст. Опираясь на информацию текста, найдите ответы

Text B

A. relaxes

III. Замените подчеркнутое в предложении слово, используя один из

предложенных вариантов (A, B, C, D), который, на ваш взгляд, наиболее

точно передает значение всего предложения:

The administrative apparatus of the states is controlled by governors but the

ultimate authority rests with the legislatures.

B. takes a break

C. remains

D. sleeps

ЗАДАНИЯ К ТЕКСТУ

на следующие вопросы:

1. How do most Americans stereotype all government workers?

_______________________________________________________

2. What are the most typical characteristics of the civil servants

working at the federal level of government?

________________________________________________________

3. Why are most of the national government’s workers employed

outside Washington?

________________________________________________________

II. Письменно своими словами изложите основное содержание текста на

III. Задайте к тексту 6 – 7 вопросов разного типа.

(1) The civil service in America was created after assassination of the president James Abram Garfield (1831 - 1881), who was killed by an unbalanced job seeker. The Congress responded by passing a special act which established the Civil Service Commission. The objective of the commission was to reduce the practice of filling government positions with the president’s allies or followers. Nowadays the civil service fills jobs on the basis of merit system and sees to it that workers are not fired for political reasons. Over the years, for most government positions there have been developed job qualifications and selection procedures.

(2) Nowadays the American national bureaucracy is staffed by around 3 million employees, who account about 2,5 percent of the US work force. An important feature of the federal government staff is that most of its workers are hired under the requirements of the civil service. The Americans have a tendency to stereotype all government workers as faceless paper pushers. This image, however, is not accurate. Only 11 percent of all federal government employees work in the offices of Washington, D.C. Most of them work in regional and local offices scattered across the United States and the world. FBI agents or forest rangers, for example, are as much part of the federal bureaucracy as are secretaries and file clerks. Their activities have little to do with bureaucratic paperwork..

(3) Who are the people working for the many departments and agencies that make up the American federal bureaucracy? The work force is quite diverse. The typical man or woman in the federal service is about 43 years old and has worked for the government for a total of about 15 years. Federal workers are better educated than workers in the general population. More than a half of them have some college training, while a quarter have done graduate work at universities.

(4) American government is a principal employer of professionals including the multitude of doctors, librarians, computer programmers, security guards, engineers. The government also employs policy analysts, veterinarians, lawyers, cartographers, scientists, accountants, and many other professionals. They hold a great variety of jobs and play a vital role in assuring the smooth functioning of the United States government.

(5) The way the civil servants in the USA get their officers is also important. During the first years of democracy, George Washington declared that he appointed government officials according to “fitness of character”. Another president, Andrew Jackson argued that long service in the same jobs by any group of workers would only promote tyranny.

(6) About 88 percent of the national government’s workers are employed outside Washington. One reason for this centralization is to make government offices accessible to the people they serve. The Social Security Administration, for example, has to have offices within a reasonable distance of most Americans, so that its many clients have somewhere to take their questions, problems and paperwork. Decentralization is also a way to distribute jobs and income across the country.

(7) Studies of the social composition of the civil service as a whole indicate, that it mirrors the American population on such important characteristics as father’s occupation, and worker’s education, income and age. There is also a substantial representation of minorities (27 percent) within the federal government work force.

Примечание:

assassination (n) (предательское) убийство

James Abram Garfield Гарфилд,Джеймс Абрам, 20-й президент

США. Был убит спустя несколько месяцев

после того как занял президентский пост

человеком, которого обошли при распреде-

лении должностей.

Civil Service Commission Комиссия Государственной Службы

merit system cистема назначения на должность или повы

шения по службе на основе конкурсных

экзаменов

work force (n)штат сотрудников, работники

Federal Bureau of Investigation, Федеральное бюро расследований (ФБР)

Дата добавления: 2014-12-27