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Topic N1 "The British Parliament"
The British Parliament is the oldest in the world. Itoriginated
in th 12th century as Witenagemot, the body ofwisecouncellers
whom the King needed to consult pursuing his policy. The British
Parliament consists of theHouseof Lordsandthe Houseof
Commons and the Queen as its head. The House of Commons plays the
major role in law-making. It consists of MembersofParliament
(called MPs for short).Eachof themrepresentsan areain
general election or ataby-election followingthedeath or
retirement. Parliamentary elections are held every 5 years and it
is the Prime Ministerwhodecides ontheexact day ofthe
election. The minimum voting age is 18. And the voting istaken
by secret ballot. The election campaign lasts about 3 weeks,The
British parliamentary system depends on politicalsparties. The
party which wins the majority of seats forms thegovermentand
its leader usually becomes Prime Minister.ThePrime Minister
chooses about 20 MPs from his partytobecome thecabinetof
ministers. Each minister is responsible for a particular areain
the goverment. The second largestpartybecomes theofficial
opposition with its own leader and "shadow cabinet".The leader
of the opposition is a recognized post in the House ofCommons.
The parliament andthemonarch havedifferentroles inthe
goverment and they only meet together on symbolic occasions, such
as coronation of a new monarch or the opening of theparliament.
In reality, the House of Commons is the one of threewhichhas
true power. The House of Commons is made up of sixhundredand
fifty elected members, it is presided overbythe speaker,a
member acceptable to the whole house. MPs sit on two sides of the
hall, one side for the governing party andtheother forthe
opposition. The first 2 rows of seats are occupied by the leading
members of both parties (called "front benches") The back benches
belong to the rank-and-life MPs. Each session oftheHouse of
Commons lasts for 160-175 days. Parliament has intervalsduring
his work. MPs are paid for their parliamentary work andhave to
attend the sittings. As mention above, the House of Commons plays
the major role in law making. The procedure is the following:a
proposed law ("a bill") has to go through three stagesin order
to become an act of parliament, these are called "readings".The
first reading is a formality and is simply the publication of the
proposal. The second reading involves debate on the principles of
the bill, it is examination by parliamentary committy. Andthe
third reading is a report stage, when the work of the committy is
reported on to the house. Thisisusually themostimportant
stage in the process. When the bill passes through the Houseof
Commons, it is sent to the House of Lords fordiscussion,when
the Lords agree it, the bill is taken totheQueen forroyal
assent, when the Queen sings the bill,itbecomes actofthe
Parliament and the Law of the Land. The House of Lords hasmore
than 1000 members, although only about 250 take an active part in
the work in the house.Membersof thisUpperHouse arenot
elected, they sit there because of their rank, thechairmanof
the House of Lords is the Lord Chancellor.Andhe sitsona
special seat, called "WoolSack" The members of the House of Lords
debate the bill after it has been passed by the House of Commons.
Some changes may be recommended and the agreement between the two
houses is reached by negotiations.
Topic N2 "
The
50states. Each ofwhichhas itsown goverment ("state
goverment").
In some ways the
countries. Each state has its own governor, its ownpoliceand
its own laws. The present constitution was proclaimed in 1787in
the goverment and "commandering chief" of thearmedforces. He
makes the most important decisions and chooses the ministers, the
members of his cabinet. But the President cannot do just whathe
wants. The Congress must agreefirst.Americans chooseanew
president every four years. The residence of the President is the
White
House in
whole
country (the Federal goverment) works from
is where
the Congress is based. The Capitol is the seat of the
Congress. Congress is the American parliament which consists of 2
chambers. The Senate and the House of Representatives. Thefirst
Congress
met in 1789in
consisted of 22 senators and 59 representatives. Today theHouse
of Representatives has 435 members. Elections to thehouse take
place every 2 years. There are 100 senators (2 from eachstate),
they are elected to serve for a period of six years,butevery
two years elections to the senate took place whenone/thirdof
its members must be changed or re-elected. Election day is always
in the month of November, on the first Tuesday, after thefirst
Monday. Americans who aren't yet 25 years old have no right to be
elected to the House of Representatives. Whose, who are under30
can't be elected in the Senate. The main political parties in the
United StatesofAmerica aretheDemocratic Partyandthe
Republlican Party.
Topic N3 "Business Trips"
Never before in the history of the world have businessmentraveled
so much as they do today. It is not surprisingbecauseweare
living in a world of growing international tradeandexpanding
economic and technical cooperation. Fascinating though it isfor
tourist travelling, however, has become the mosttiring ofall
the occupations for manybusinessmenand experts.Choosinga
comfortable hotel to stay at is,therefore,a matterof some
importance. There are plently of good hotels, motels,and guest
houses, in theworld,convientlylocated formajorbusiness
centers.
Manydevelopingcountries,
suchas
facilities include both: large and small cocktail barber's shops
and conference halls, equippedwithsimultaneous, multilingual
translation systems. There are parking areas which can accomodate
a lot of cars. It might be useful for travelling businessmenand
tourists toknow thattailorshops, shoerepairshops and
laundry, dry cleaning services are available for guests.People
in the office help guests to book train or steamerticketsand
rent a car. They are also ready to give all necessary information.
Nowadays people who go on business mostly travel by air as itis
the fastest means oftravelling.Passengers arerequestedto
arriveat theairport2 hoursbeforedeparture time on
international flights and an hour on domestic flightsasthere
mustbe enoughtimeto completethe necessary airport
formalities. Passengers must register their tickets, weigh in and
register the luggage. Most airlines have at least 2classesof
travel: first class and economyclasswhich ischeaper.Each
passenger of morethan2 yearsofage hasafree luggage
allowance.Generally this limitis20kg foreconomicclass
passenger and 30kg for first class passenger. Excess luggage must
be paid for except for some articles that can be carried freeof
charge. Each passenger is given a boarding pass to beshownat
geparture gate and again tothestewardess whenboardingthe
plane. Watch the electric sign flashes when youareon board,
when the "Fasten Seat Belts" sign goes on do it promptly and also
obey the "No Smoking" signal. Do not forget your personal effects
when leaving the plane.
Topic N4 "Customs and Traditions"
There
are many customs and traditions in
like to tell you some of them. First tradition is called"Wrong
side of the bed" When people are bad tempered we saythatthey
must have got out of bed on the wrong side. Originally,itwas
meant quiet literally. People belive that the waythey rosein
the morning affected their behaivor throughout the day. The wrong
side of the bed was the left side. The left alwayshavingbeen
linked with evil.Secondcustom iscalled"Blowing outthe
candles" The custom of having candles on birthday cakes goes back
to the ancient Greeks. Worshippers of Artemis, godess of the moon
and hunting, used to place honeycakeson thealtarsofher
temples on her birthday. The cakes were round like the fullmoon
and lit with tapers. This custom was next recorded in themiddle
ages when German peasantslittapers onbirthdaycakes, the
number lit indicating the person's age, plusanextra oneto
represent the light of life. From earliest daysburningtapers
had been endoued with mystical significance andit wasbelived
that when blown out they had the power to grant a secret wish and
ensure a happy year ahead. And the last tradition I would like to
tell you is called "The 5th of November" On the 5thof November
in
almost every otwn and village in
burning, fireworks, cracking and lighting up the sky.Youwill
see too small groups of children pulling round inahome made
cart, a figure that looks something like a man but consists of an
old suit of clothes, stuffed with straw. The children will sing:"
Remember, remember the 5th of November; Gun powder, treasonand
plot". And they will ask passers-by for "a penny for the Guy" But
the children with "the Guy" are not likely to knowwho orwhat
day they are celebrating. They have done this more or lessevery
5th of November since 1605. At that time James the Firstwason
the throne. He was hated with many peopleespecialythe Roman
catholics against whom many sever laws had been passed. A number
of catholics chief of whom was Robert Catesby determined tokill
the King and his ministers by blowing up the house of Parliament
with gunpowder. To help them inthisthey gotGuyFawker,a
soldier of fortune, who would do the actual work. The dayfixed
for attempt was the5thof November,theday onwhichthe
Parliament was to open. But one of the consperatorshad several
friends in the parliament and he didn't want them to die.Sohe
wrote a letter to Lord Monteagle begging him to make someexcuse
to beabsentfrom parliamentifhe valuedhislife. Lord
Monteagle took the letter hurrily to the King. Guardswere sent
at once to examine the cellars of the house ofParliament.And
there they found Guy Fawker about to fire a trailof gunpowder.
He was tortured and hanged, Catesby was killed, resistingarrest
in his own house. Inmemoryof thatdaybonfires arestill
lighted, fireworks shoot across the November sky and figuresof
Guy Fawker are burnt in the streets.
Topic N5 "Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)"
Thomas Jefferson one of the American President of thepastwas
born in
died and the young boy was left to choose for himself what to do.
a
lawyer, and later he wrote many of the
the laws for which he worked very much was a law toallowmany
child to
go to school free. Schools in
children
whose parents were rich.When
young
man he was one of those who wanted
freedomfrom
His most outstandingarchivmentwas aschiefauthor ofthe
Declaration
of
liberties. It was read to the happy people on the 4thofJuly,
1776.
theforeign ministerofthe UnitedStatesof Americaand
afterwards
was President's
years later he became the country's third president, servingin
this position for 2 terms.Theauthor oftheDeclaration of
He worked out a plan for auniversitywhere thestudentsand
teachers could live and work togetherina villagebuildfor
them. It was one of the first schools to teach science. Today, it
is the
self-tought architect. He introduced the simple classicaldesign
to
He also designed his own home, he remained the mostinfluencial
architect of his time. Thomas Jefferson did manyusefulthings
during his life timeandhe alwaysthoughtof howtohelp
ordinary people. He was apracticaland theoreticalscientist
too.
progressive people in their struggle for peace and democracy.
Topic N6 "Pets"
The English people likeanimalsvery much.Pet:dogs, cats,
horses, ducks, canaries, chickens and other friends of men have a
much
better life in
have special dog shops, selling food, clothes andotherthings
for dogs. There are dog hair-dressing saloons and dogcemetries.
The English arrange dogs' shows and organize dogs' supper parties
for winners of dogs' competitions. They do all they can tomake
animals feel well in their homeandoutside theirhomestoo.
There were photographs in English newspapres of a mother duck and
her
young family, crossing slowly the
roadfrom
Duck and her little ones walked quitly from one park toanother.
In recent years the English began to show love formoreexotic
animals such as crocodiles, elephants, tigers,cobras, camels.
You
won't be surprised, we think, when we tell
youthat
Airport has a special "animal hotel". Everyyearthousands of
animals
arrive at
others stay several weeks. In one month, for example, "the hotel"
looked after 47000 creatures: birds, insects, fish,elephants,
mpnkey and other animals. There are about 4000000 dogs,6000000
cats,
8000000 caged birds and lots of other animals
in
The English people belive that they are the onlynation onthe
Earth that is really kind to its animals.
Topic N7 "
The city
of
Many
people consider
cities in the world. It is filled with many parks, widestreets
and impressive buildings. In the centre of the city,in Capitol
Park,visitors' eyesfocusontheCapitol, whereCongress
convence
to inect laws. Many visitors come to
see the White House. It is the greatest attraction formanyof
them. The White House, the official residence of thePresident,
is
situated at
this building of over the hundreds room is the East Room,scene
of many state receptions, balls and musicals. Other famousrooms
are: the Green Room, the Blue Room, the Red Room, which areused
for afternoon teas and for receptions held before statedinners.
The Blue Room, the most formalofthese "colors"roomisan
oval-shaped room connecting the Green and the Red Rooms. Onthe
second floor, the floorwiththe familyquartersand quests
rooms, is the Lincoln Room, which one served asanoffice for
president
this room Lincoln signed the emansipation proclamationof1863.
Other
landmarks in
Presidents:
The
of Art, The John F. Kennedy center for thePerfomingArts.The
Capitol
is in the very center of
Capitol Hill, the highest point in the city. The Capitolisthe
highest
building in
to build buildings higher than the Capitol. The conrerstone of
the Capitol was laid by George Washington on Sep 18th, 1793.The
Capitol
is the seat of the govermentof
the