Ольга Кравцова - Английский язык для специальных и академических целей: Международные отношения и зарубежное регионоведение. Часть 1

Later, Brown played a crucial role in the campaign surrounding the Scottish independence referendum of 2014, galvanizing support behind maintaining the union.

Unit I. UK: from Empire to Democracy

Unit I. UK: from Empire to Democracy

6. stockbroker belt (Human Geography) Brit — the area outside a city, esp. London, in which rich commuters (who traditionally vote for the Conservative Party) live

7. amour proper — a sense of one's own worth; self-respect, from French ‘love of oneself'

8. extortion racket — a criminal offense of obtaining money, property, or services from a person, entity, or institution, by use of intimidation or threats (here used metaphorically)

1. ... a 307-year-old union, which once ruled a third of humanity and still serves as a role-model to many;

2. ... it is the nationalists who have fire in their bellies;

3. . a narrow victory for the status quo;

4. . Scottish whingeing and freeloading;

5. It is, of course, possible that independence would cure Scotland's entitlement culture and revive its entrepreneurial side.

6. But their statist philosophies are more likely to drive Edinburgh's fund managers, . and other talented Scots south.

7. Independence would also impose one-off costs .

8. . that hardly suggests a Scottish administration straining at a leash held tight by Westminster.

9. The devolution of powers to Scotland has been a mild extortion racket .

10. . the flow has gone to Westminster rather than away from it.

1. What are the Scottish nationalists' arguments in support of Scotland's independence?

2. How does the article refute the arguments?

3. Why, according to the Economist, is the union worth preserving?

4. In what way should the union be changed?

1. Do you think the tone of the article is condescending to the Scots? If so, can you prove it?

2. Does the article make a compelling case for retaining the union?

3. Why do you think the Scots voted ‘no' to independence from the UK?

4. Do you think the results of the referendum are a missed opportunity for Scotland?

a) the reforms the UK government will have to carry out after the Scottish referendum OR

b) the history/feasibility of similar referendums in other countries

1. the act of breaking up an organization, institution, etc. so that it no longer exists

2. a feeling of satisfaction with a situation or with what you have achieved, so that you stop trying to improve or change things — used to show disapproval

3. a feeling of anger or displeasure about someone or something unfair

4. to be more important or valuable than something else

5. difficult to believe and therefore unlikely to be true

6. something that you think is true although you have no definite proof

7. something that limits your freedom to do what you want

8. to prevent someone from having something, especially something that they need or should have

9. to cause pain, suffering, or trouble to someone, especially for a long period of time

10. lasting for only a short time, brief

11. to accept someone's opinions and try to do what they want, especially when their opinions or needs are different from yours

12. to let someone else have your position, power, or rights, especially unwillingly

1. fleeting: moment, ______________, ________________, _______________

2. plagued by: disease, ________________, ________________, ________________

3. implausible: theory, ________________, _________________, ________________

4. to deprive of: civil rights, ________________, _________________, _______________

5. to relinquish: control, _________________, _________________, _______________

6. political, ________________, _________________, _______________ constraints

1. Cambodia is now formally a democracy, but the country is _______________by corruption

and poverty.

2. Her Majesty the Queen paid a ______________visit to Heaton Chapel yesterday on her way

to opening the new Co-op building in Manchester.

3. We hear that his Lordship possesses no other powers _______________ the dispute be

tween Great Britain and the United States than those mentioned in the act of the British Parliament.

4. It is not entirely _______________that George Bernard Shaw's Henry Higgins could identify

a speaker's origins within a mile or two, or within a street or two in London.

Unit I. UK: from Empire to Democracy

Unit I. UK: from Empire to Democracy

5. A Tunisian court has ______________ th e party of deposed President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali,

ousted on 14 January.

6. The Constitution placed no religious ______________ on the separate states, restrict

ing clearly and specifically the federal Congress from making law on or interfering with religion.

7. The benefits of isolated outdoor smoking areas ______________ the negative effects that this

kind of controlled smoking would have on the general student population.

8. A year later, South Korea fell into crisis with Asia's other former tiger economies. While Korea's

meltdown had myriad causes, it mostly boiled down to ___________________.

9. In the same year the Webster-Ashburton treaty between Great Britain and the United States

was concluded, but England did not thereby ________________ h e r claim of the right to

search American vessels.

10. Nearly all of the estimates of «harm» concerning Ed Snowden's actions were based on the

faulty _______________that he «took» (and revealed) every document he ever «touched»

while at NSA — somewhere around 1.7 million.

11. The PATRIOT Act violates the personal privacy of all American citizens. It has _____________

the citizens of this country of some of the basic rights that were promised to them in the Constitution.

12. Forcing young people to vote when they feel such a deep aversion to the political class may

actually serve to reinforce a deepening _______________, rather than to engage them in

a positive manner.

David Cameron's Statement on Independence Referendum Result http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ana1J6t0ZlI

1. Do the constituent parts of the UK have similar rights?

2. What did the Scottish devolution of 1998 consist in?

3. Why did the Scotts hold an independence referendum in 2014?

1. When did the Scottish national party come to power?

2. Why didn't the British Parliament prevent Scotland from holding a referendum?

3. What is the significance of the referendum results?

4. What promises did the central government have to make to Scotland before the referendum?

5. How does this affect the other parts of the UK? What reforms are to be carried out?

Do you think the Scottish Independence Referendum proves that the British democracy is solid and resilient?

1. How many monarchies are there left in Europe?

2. Why do you think the British retain this form of government?

(From Acts of Union and Disunion by Linda Colley. Profile Books LTD, London 2014)

British official language identifies monarchy as the most vital act of union, and as an enduring one. The very name of this state “The United Kingdom”, makes clear the centrality of the Crown, and conveys a sense of permanence. The national anthem, too, focuses on the Crown and underlines its endurance.

In his famous commentary on the constitution, the Victoria journalist Walter Bagehot offered a detached, often a sardonic analysis of the monarchy, but he accepted that the institution was a resilient one. Monarchy, Bagehot suggested, benefited from being a relatively easy political system for people to understand. And the appeal of a royal family of the British type was particularly tenacious, he argued, because it virtually guaranteed ‘nice and pretty events' at regular intervals, and held up a glamorous mirror to emotions and choices that were widely shared and familiar. As we were reminded in July 2013 15 15 Prince George, the son of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and third in line to the throne, was born this still holds true.

Yet Bagehot also recognised that it was inappropriate to place too much stress on royal continuities. Privately he believed that support for the monarchy might well decline as access to education in the UK became more widespread, and he speculated that such a falling away of support was likely to happen sooner in Scotland than in England. Whatever you think of this, in one respect Bagehot was right. To understand how and why monarchy mattered here, one needs to look not just at tradition and custom, but also at disjunctions and at change over time.

A patchwork of different kingdoms existed throughout these islands from the early Middle Ages. England became a single kingdom in the tenth century, while a single king was able to control most of Scotland by the thirteenth century. Wales and Ireland, however, were more fragmented and conflict-ridden, experiencing multiple and competing rulers. And although successive English kings tried to conquer the outer zones of the British Isles, it was, in fact, a Scottish king —