A (Very) Brief History of the English Language
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- The Beatles
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Summer HolidaysAll the people enjoy summer holidays very much. It is a great pleasure to have a rest after a whole year of hard work or study. People like to travel during their summer holidays. Some people go abroad to see new countries, some people prefer to go to the country-side to enjoy country-life far from noise and fuss of big cities. Some people like to spend their holidays in cities, visiting theatres, museums and going sightseeing. But a great number of people go to the seaside in summer. I like to have rest at the seaside best of all. I do not like crowds when I am on holiday. My family and I always have our holiday on the coast. Sea and sunshine, that is what we look forward to every summer. Hotels at the large seaside towns are rather expensive, so we usually go to a holiday camp. Last year we spent our holidays in such a camp. Each day was full of small joys. We swam in the sea, lay in the sun, played different games and had a wonderful time. We lived there for about a month and did not even notice when the time came for us to return home. The time flew very quickly. It was a wonderful rest. Television and AdvertisementMany people have forgotten what the world was like before TV. But today it has become an integral part of our lives. No medium can compare with TV as a means of information, entertainment & education. TV now plays such an important role in so many people's lives that it is essential for us to try to decide whether it is bad or good. First of all, TV is not only a convenient source of entertainment, but also a comparatively cheap one. For a family of 4, for example, it is more convenient as well as cheaper to sit comfortably at home than to go out. They don't have to pay for expensive tickets. All they have to do is to turn on TV and they can see films, political discussions and the latest exciting football matches. Some people say that this is fist where the danger lies. The TV viewers need do nothing: they make no choices, they're completely passive & don't even use their legs. TV, people often say, informs about current events and the latest developments in science and politics. A lot of good films, music programs have appeared recently on TV. Yet here again there is a danger. We get to like watching TV so much that it begins to dominate our lives. A friend of mine told me that when his TV set broke he & his family suddenly found that they had much more time to do things. The most important thing which is really criticizing is poor quality of the programs and its harmful effect on children. For example the film "Natural Born Killers" teaches children to kill and there was one accident in France when a group of teenagers kill their parents. There are many arguments for and against TV. I think we must understand that TV in itself is neither good nor bad. TV is as good or as bad as we make it.
Their first film, the innovative A Hard Day's Night (1964), was received enthusiastically by a wide audience that included many who had never before listened to rock music. Composing their own material (Lennon and McCartney were the major creative forces),The Beatles established the precedent for other rock groups to play their own music. Experimenting with new musical forms, they produced an extraordinary variety of songs: the childishly simple "Yellow Submarine"; the bitter social commentary of "Eleanor Rigby"; parodies of earlier pop styles; new electronic sounds; and compositions that were scored for cellos, violins, trumpets, and sitars, as well as for conventional guitars and drums. Some enthusiasts cite the albums Rubber Soul (1965) and Revolver (1966) as the apex of Beatle art, although Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967), perhaps the first rock album designed thematically as a single musical entity, is more generally considered their triumph. The group disbanded in 1970, after the release of their final album, Let It Be, to pursue individual careers. On Dec. 8, 1980, John Lennon was fatally shot in New York City. In 1991, Paul McCartney's classical composition Liverpool Oratorio was performed to some acclaim in Britain and the United States. The British ParliamentThe British Parliament is the oldest in the world. It originated in the 12th century as Witenagemot, the body of wise councillors to consult the King in his policy. The British Parliament consists of the House of Lords and the House of Commons and the Queen as its head. The House of Commons plays the major role in law-making. It consists of Members of Parliament (called MPs for short). Each of them represents an area in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. MPs are elected either at a general election or at a by-election following the death or retirement. Parliamentary elections are held every 5 years and it is the Prime Minister who decides on the exact day of the election. The minimum voting age is 18. And the voting is taken by secret ballot. The election campaign lasts about 3 weeks, The British parliamentary system depends on politicals parties. The party which wins the majority of seats forms the goverment and its leader usually becomes Prime Minister. The Prime Minister chooses about 20 MPs from his party to become the cabinet of ministers. Each minister is responsible for a particular area in the goverment. The second largest party becomes the official opposition with its own leader and "shadow cabinet". The leader of the opposition is a recognized post in the House of Commons. The parliament and the monarch have different roles in the goverment and they only meet together on symbolic occasions, such as coronation of a new monarch or the opening of the parliament. In reality, the House of Commons is the one of three which has true power. The House of Commons is made up of six hundred and fifty elected members, it is presided over by the speaker, a member acceptable to the whole house. MPs sit on two sides of the hall, one side for the governing party and the other for the 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 of the House of Commons lasts for 160-175 days. Parliament has intervals during his work. MPs are paid for their parliamentary work and have 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 stages in 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. And the third reading is a report stage, when the work of the committy is reported on to the house. This is usually the most important stage in the process. When the bill passes through the House of Commons, it is sent to the House of Lords for discussion, when the Lords agree it, the bill is taken to the Queen for royal assent, when the Queen sings the bill, it becomes act of the Parliament and the Law of the Land. The House of Lords has more than 1000 members, although only about 250 take an active part in the work in the house. Members of this Upper House are not elected, they sit there because of their rank, the chairman of the House of Lords is the Lord Chancellor. And he sits on a special seat, called "Wool Sack." 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. Directory: ebook -> umm ebook -> "That was our view and I believe it right." ebook -> Computer Science Conference Ranking ebook -> Problem a arbitrage ebook -> Problem a addition Chains ebook -> "Race and the Making of the Nation: Blacks in Modern France" ebook -> The Teachings of Don Juan ebook -> I’ve got it let’s invade Iraq! ebook -> Appendix 9c sa army unit histories1 Infantry umm -> Corpora in the classroom without scaring the students Download 0.58 Mb. Share with your friends:
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