Контрольная работа №1. Прочтите текст и переведите на русский язык.

Вариант № 1

Прочтите текст и переведите на русский язык.

THE SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT IN GREAT BRITAIN

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 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 every five years. They are known as MPs, or Members of Parliament. They are paid for their parliament work and have to attend the seatings.

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 party that has won the general elections makes up the majority in the House of Commons and forms the Government. The party with the next largest number of members in the House, or sometimes a combination of other parties, forms the official opposition.

The Prime Minister is advised bya Cabinet of about twenty other ministries. The Cabinet includes the ministers in charge of major government departments or ministries. Departments and ministries are run by civil servants, who are permanent officials. Even if the Government changes after an election, the same civil servants are employed. 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 who have inherited their titles; life peers who are appointed by the Queen on the advice of the Government for various services to the nation; and the Lords of Appeal (Law Lords) who become life peers on their judicial appointments. The latter serve the House of Lords as the ultimate court of appeal. This appeal court consists of some nine Law Lords who hold senior judicial office. They are presided over by the Lord Chancellor and they form a quorum of three to five when they hear appeal cases.

Ответьте на вопросы по тексту.

1. Which of these people are not elected: a peer, an MP, a civil servant, the Prime Minister?

2. What is the difference between life peers and hereditary peers?

3. What is the difference between Lords Temporal and Lords Spiritual?

4. What are civil servants?