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Text A. The United Kingdom
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Strictly speaking, ''Great Britain' is a geographical expression but ''The United’ Kingdom'' is a political expression. Britain is in fact the biggest of the group of islands which lie between the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It is approximately two and a half times the size of Ireland, the second largest one. Together they are called the British Isles. The British Isles today are shared by two separate and independent states. The smaller of these is the Republic of Ireland, with its capital in Dublin. The larger, with London as its capital, is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. This long title, (usually shortened to the United Kingdom or the UK) is the result of a complicated history. The Island of Great Britain contains three 'nations' which were separated at earlier stages of their history: England, Scotland and Wales. Wales had become part of the English administrative system by the sixteenth century. Scotland was not completely united with England until 1707. The United Kingdom is a name which was introduced in 1801 when Great Britain became united with Ireland. When the Republic of Ireland became independent of London in 1922, the title was changed to its present form. 'Britain' and 'British' have two meanings. They sometimes refer to Great Britain alone, and sometimes to the UK including Northern Ireland. 'England' and 'English' are often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Great Britain.
In theory, there are three branches of power: Parliament which makes laws, the government, which executes law 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 has two parts: the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Members of the House of Commons are elected by the voters of 650 constituencies. They are known as MPs, or Members of Parliament. 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 Prime Minister is advised by a Cabinet of about twenty other ministers.
Members of the House of Lords (peers) are not elected. About 70 per cent of them are hereditary peers because their fathers were peers before them. The other 30 per cent are life peers whose titles are not passed on to their children. They are officially appointed by the Queen on the advice of the Government, for various services to the nation. Many countries have a written constitution like that of the United States. Because this is not the case in Britain there are no special procedures for changing the laws which govern the country. If a political party has a clear majority in the House of Commons it can make new laws and give itself new powers. This allows a Government to make radical changes in the law.
It should be said that Britain is a stable and democratic society. Its citizens have freedom of speech and political and religious belief. It is a leading member of both the European Community and the Commonwealth and has a major world role as a permanent member of the Unite Nations Security Council.
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The home of the industrial revolution, it continues to be an important industrial nation. Britain is the fourth largest trading nation in the world, it is one of the largest exporters of goods and a major centre for financial and insurance services. It has the largest energy resources of any country in the European Community and is an important world producer of oil, natural gas and coal. Its labour force has high levels of technical and commercial skill. British agriculture is noted for its efficiency and productivity and at the same time comprehensive planning and control have steadily reduced air and water pollution.
Britain's National Health Service is famous worldwide and its universities and institutes of higher education attract over 50,000 foreign students a year. Britain has for centuries encouraged research and innovation and its record of achievements has been maintained throughout the twentieth century. Nobel prize for science have been won by sixty eight British citizens, a number exceeded only by the United States. In the fields of arts, broadcasting and sports Britain continues to lead the world.
2. Divide the group into two small parts. Each group reads its part of the text then asks questions to the partner’s part of the text.
a) Questions for group A.
1. What examples are given of Britain’s industrial power?
2. What evidence is given of Britain’s it educational?
3. Name three other areas in which Great Britain leads the world.
4. Do you find the official view accurate?
5. How many British citizens won Nobel prize?
b) Questions for group B.
1. Which of these people are not elected: a peer, a MP, a civil servant, the Prime Minister?
2. What is the difference between life peer and hereditary peer?
3. What are civil servants?
4. Find two examples of executive organizations outside central government.
5. What differences are there between the Parliament and the Government?
6. Name some similarities and differences between the UK parliamentary system and the Russian parliamentary system.
Text B. London Overview
When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life: for there is in London all that life can afford, – wrote Samuel Johnson in 1777. He would recognize many of the great sights on both sides of the Thames which winds its way downstream from Windsor and Hampton Court, past Westminster Abbey, St Paul's Cathedral, the Tower, and on down to Greenwich and the sea.
In 1911 H. G. Wells wrote that “London is the most interesting, beautiful and wonderful city in the world to me”. Today London is a cosmopolitan city, about 1600 square km, an exciting world which many visitors from abroad see first from the sky, surprised that the ribbon-like Thames is so curvaceous and a score of bridges so decorative. Down there, seven million people are at home, not in anonymous suburbs but in the Cities of London and Westminster and in districts which have remnants of their countrified past, in Marylebone and Kensington, Hampstead and Highgate with their own high streets and historic monuments remembering famous men and women who built a London which each generation discovers anew.
Documented history goes back to the time when Westminster was still a marsh. The Romans had inhabited the land which became theCity, building a bridge across the Thames by AD 60 and creating a celebrated centre of commerce filled with traders. Westminster, established as a royal palace shortly before the invasion of William the Conqueror in 1066, gradually grew in importance as it became the seat of government, beside the Thames and next door to Westminster Abbey a couple of minutes from the City.
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Big Ben, the voice of London, has been telling the time since 1859. Construction of the 96 m clock tower began in the year Queen Victoria came to the throne, 1837, as part of the reconstruction of the Houses of Parliament following the devastating fire of 1834. Clock designer, Sir Edmund Grimthorpe, the architect and clockmaker all died before the 13 1/2 ton bell was mounted behind the four clock faces, which each measure 7 m in diameter. The Great Bell cracked, was recast and cracked again, giving us the famous resonating boom. Why Big Ben? There are two answers – either can be chosen. It could have been named after Sir Benjamin Hall, chief commissioner of works at that time. Or, perhaps, it was named by workmen, who brought the bell from Whitechapel Foundry on a cart pulled by 16 white horses. Their hero of the day was Benjamin Caunt, a 17 stone prize fighter.
3. Comprehension check. Answer the following questions:
1. What is the capital of Great Britain?
2. Where is London situated?
3. Name the places of interest in London.
4. What is London famous for?
5. How old is London?
6. What are the most important parts of London?
4. Ask your partner:
- if he has ever been to London;
- if it is possible to see anything of London in one day;
- if he is interested in churches and cathedrals;
- whether he knows the history of Britain;
- what big university he knows in London;
- what places of interest he would like to see first.
5. Retell the Text if
1. You were a Londoner.
2. You were a tourist.
6. Speak on
1. The general impression of London.
2. The history of London.
3. What modern London is like.
4. Westminster.
5. Big Ben.
Text C. Dialogues
Fill in the gaps in the dialogues with the sentences from the following list.
- We have already missed it.
- I’d much like to see the Poet’s Corner.
- “The Changing of the Guard”, he declared.
- Oh, it resembles Norte Dame in Paris.
- That’s Downing Street.
- The Mall leads to Backingham palace.
- Downing Street was built on it.
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