Read and remember the following words and phrases from the text.

VOCABULARY

State System of Great Britain

Unit I

1. See the dictionary and read the words correctly: Kingdom, monarchy/ a monarch, a sovereign, to reign, to execute/executive, authority, constituency, a majority, to inherit/ hereditary, judicial/judiciary,

3.Read and translate the text:

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a constitutional monarchy. Constitutional monarchy is a form of government that has a monarch, but his powers are limited by law or by a formal constitution. It means that in Great Britain sovereign reigns but does not rule.

Britain does not have a written constitution, but a set of laws. In theory, the constitution has three branches: Parliament, which makes laws, the government, which “executes” laws, i.e. puts them into effect, and the law courts, which interpret laws. Although the Queen is officially head of all three branches, she has little direct power.

Parliament is the most important authority in Britain. Technically Parliament is made up of three parts: the Monarch, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons. In reality the House of Commons is the only one of the three which has true power. Members of the House of Commons are elected by the voters of 650 constituencies. They are known as Members of Parliament, or MPs. The Prime Minister, or leader of the Government, is also an MP, usually the leader of the political party with a majority in the House of Commons.

The House of Lords consists of the Lords Temporal and the Lords Spiritual. The Lords Spiritual are the Archbishops of York and Canterbury together with twenty- four senior bishops of the Church of England.

The Lords Temporal consist of hereditary peers, life peers and the Lords of Appeal (Law Lords). Hereditary peers are those who have inherited their titles. Life peers are appointed by the Queen for various services to the nation. The Lords of Appeal become life peers on their judicial appointments. They serve the House of Lords as the ultimate court of appeal. This appeal court consists of nine Law Lords presided over by the Lord Chancellor.

The monarch serves formally as head of state. But the monarch is politically neutral and should not make political decisions.

The present sovereign is Queen Elizabeth II. She was crowned in Westminster Abbey in 1953.

4.Give English equivalents to Russian words and phrases:конституционная монархия, форма правления, писаная конституция, свод законов, три ветви власти, непосредственная власть, самый важный орган власти, избиратель, политическая партия с большинством, унаследовать титул, заслуги перед страной, юридические назначения, окончательный апелляционный суд, принимать политические решения.

5.Give definitions to the following words from the text:

- a constitutional monarchy;

- Parliament;

- the government;

- the law courts;

- the House of Commons;

- the House of Lords;

-a majority party;

6.Say who these people are:

- the Prime Minister;

- Members of Parliament;

- the Lords Temporal;

- the Lords Spiritual;

- hereditary peers;

- life peers;

- the Lords of Appeal.

Who of them is not elected?