The Linguistic Culture-1 (1157928), страница 2
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Now they arethings of the past. Since the 1950s, most British cities have introduced clean airzones. Factories and houses cannot burn coal and must use smokeless fuel.Britain's countryside is famous for its deep green color. Britain in fact looks likeone great park with its old trees, green meadows (луга) remaining green all theyear round.1 Answer the following questions:1. What parts does the United Kingdom consist of?2.
What’s the difference between the names Great Britain and United Kingdom?3. What is the climate of Great Britain like?4. Do you know any English phrases, connected with the weather?5. Have you ever been to England?6. Which pictures do you imagine when you think of this country?7. What do you know of Stonehenge?THE HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LAGUAGEAbout 2.000 years ago the British Isles were inhabited (населены) by the Celtswho had been arriving from Europe from the 8 th century BC. , mixed with thepeoples who were already there. During the next 1.000 years there were manyinvasions(набеги). The Romans came in 43 AD, calling the country “Britania.in the 5th centuryThe history of the English language really began in the 5th century with thearrival to the British Isles of three Germanic tribes (племена): the Angles, theSaxons and the Jutes, who crossed the North Sea from what today is NorthernGermany.
Most of the Celtic speakers were pushed west and north by the invaders- mainly into what is now Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The Angles who came toEngland gave birth to the language called “English”.The invading Germanic tribes spoke similar languages, which developed into whatis now called Old English.
Old English did not sound or look like English todayand English speakers of today would have great difficulty in understanding it.Nevertheless, about half of the most commonly used words in Modern Englishhave Old English roots. The words be, strong and water, for example, are derivedfrom Old English. Old English was spoken until around 1100.In 1066 the Duke of Normandy (Northern France), invaded and conqueredEngland after a well-known the Battle of Hastings. As a result of this the Normanleader became the King of England “William the Conqueror”. The Normansbrought with them the French language, which became the language of the RoyalCourt (королевского двора), and the ruling and business classes.
For about 300years there was a kind of linguistic class division, when the lower classes spokeEnglish and the upper classes lords and barons spoke French. The English are thedescendants (потомки) of all the invaders, and learners of English can find manywords in the English language which originated fro French.In the 14th century so-called Middle English became dominant in Britain.
Itwas the language of the great poet Chaucer (1340-1400). Towards the end ofMiddle English, a change in pronunciation (the Great Vowel Shift) started, withvowels being pronounced shorter. Since the 16th century the British had contactswith many nations from around the world. This, and the Renaissance(Bозрождение) of Classical learning, meant that many new words and phrasesentered the language.The invention of printing brought standardization to English spelling and grammar.Books became cheaper and more people learned to read. In 1604 the first Englishdictionary was published. A southern English accent (the dialect of London)became generally accepted and most easily understood.Hamlet's famous "To be or not to be" lines were written in Early ModernEnglish by Shakespeare.
The main difference between Early Modern Englishand Late Modern English (1800-Present) is vocabulary. Late Modern English hasmany more words, arising from two principal factors: firstly, the IndustrialRevolution and technology created a need for new words; secondly, the BritishEmpire at its height covered one quarter of the earth's surface, and the Englishlanguage adopted foreign words from many other countries.Answer the following questions.1. What were the origins of Old English?2. What is the Great Vowel Shift?3. What definition can you give to English as the global language?THE POLITICAL STRUCTURE AND ELECTIONSGreat Britain is a constitutional monarchy. Britain is administered fromthe Palace of Westminster in London. This is also known as the Houses ofParliament which is made up of two chambers (палаты) — the House ofCommons and the House of Lords.The House of Commons has 651 seats which are occupied byMembers of Parliament (MPs) who are elected by the Britishpublic in general elections which are held every five years.Thecountryisdividedinto650constituencies(избирательные округа) each of which elects one Member of Parliament (MP).The party which wins the elections gets the most seats in the House of Commonsand forms the Government.
Its leader becomes the Prime Minister.Britain does not have a written constitution, but a set of laws. Most legislation(законодательство) originates in the Commons. Besides legislation the functionsof Commons are security of government activities. The House of Commons ispresided over by the Speaker. The government party sits on the Speaker's rightwhile on his left sit the members of the Opposition.The House of Lords comprises about 1 200 members. The members of the Houseof Lords are not elected: they sit in the House because they are aristocrats whohave inherited their seats from their fathers, people with titles and bishops(эпископы) of the Church of England.This House has no real power but acts as an advisory council for the House ofCommons. The House of Lords may take a part in legislation, but it cannotpermanently block a bill (законопроект) passed by the Commons.The House of Lords is presided over by the Lord Chancellor (Лорд канцлер илипредседатель суда) and is the highest court of appeal.Technically British Parliament is made up of three parts: the House ofCommons, the House of Lords and the Monarch (at the moment the QueenElizabeth 11 who has been n power since 1953).The Queen, who is the Head of State, opens and closes the sessions of theParliament.
All new laws are debated (discussed) by MPs in the Commons, thendebated in the Lords, and finally signed by the Queen.The English monarchy has been interrupted only once during the Revolution andthe Cromwell republic. Succession (наследование) to the throne is hereditary(наследственное). Formally the monarch has a number of roles. The monarch isexpected to be politically neutral, and should not make political decisions.Nevertheless (тем не менее), Queen Elizabeth 11 still performs some importantexecutiveandlegislativedutiesи(исполнительныезаконодательныеобязанности) including opening and dissolving Parliament, signing bills(законопроекты) passed by both Houses and fulfilling international duties, visitsto foreign countries, and especially those to the Commonwealth (Содружествонаций), whose interests and welfare (благосостояние) are very important to her.She started the tradition of the "walkabouts", when she walks among the publiccrowds and stops to talk to some people.
The annual Christmas broadcast made bythe Queen on radio and television has become a traditional. The Queen's husbandis Duke of Edinburgh and her heir (наследник) is Charles, Prince of Wales, whowas born in 1948, married Lady Diana Spencer who died in a car accident inAugust, 1997, and has two children, Prince William and Prince Harry. August,1997. The Queen's other children are Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and PrinceEdward .GovernmentTwomain parties in the UK are the Conservativeparty,descendedLabourparty,fromwhichthewasoldToryorganizedparty,in1906andandtheismoderately socialist. The Liberal Democrats, which is aweaker third party, was formed by the merger (слияние)of the Liberal party and the Social Democratic party.Both Scotland and Wales have nationalist parties whose goal is the independence.The party which wins the most seats in the General Election forms thegovernment in Britain.
The leader of the winning party becomes PrimeMinister(PM). The PM chooses a committee of ministers called the Cabinet (about15-25 members or ministers). This is made up of a selection of senior MPs(members of parliament) from the House of Commons and some members of theHouse of Lords.Each member of the Cabinet is a minister responsible for a governmentdepartment such as Home Affairs, Foreign Affairs, and the Exchequer (treasury).TheSecretary of State for Education and Science is responsible for all the schools,universities and teachers in Britain.
The Cabinet of ministers runs the country(управляет страной). The Cabinet meets at the Prime Minister's house 10Downing Street. Cabinet meetings are held in private and the details must remainsecret for at least 30 years. Cabinet ministers cannot, however, do as they please!They are responsible to Parliament and must answer their questions. Even thePrime Minister must answer questions every Tuesday and Thursday in theCommons — this is called Prime Minister's Question Time. At the moment theUK is governed by the Conservative Party headed by Mr. David Cameron.Answer the questions:2. Which political parties in the UK do you know?3.
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