The Houses of Parliament in Great Britain
план-конспект занятия по английскому языку (10 класс) по теме

The Houses of Parliament

Welcome to the Palace of Westminster. It consists of three parts: the Royal Apartments where the colour is gold, the House of Lords where the seats are red and the House of Commons where the seats are green.
We are now in the Chamber of the House of Lords. Please be quiet and don't sit on these red benches.
The Chamber of the House of Lords is also called the Parliament Chamber, because every year when the Queen comes to open Parliament, all three parts of Parliament come together here for the Queen's Speech. In fact, it's not really the Queen's Speech, because she doesn't write it. The Government writes it for her. In the speech the Queen tells Parliament about the Government's plans for the next year. When she gives her speech, she sits on the throne over there. Can you all see it? Yes, it's that big chair behind the big red cushion.
Oh, and that cushion is, actually, the famous Woolsack. And yes, there is wool inside it. It's a part of a very old tradition which started in the 14th century. It was put in Parliament to symbolise the importance of wool to the British economy at that time.
The person who usually sits on the Woolsack is the Lord Chancellor. He presides over the House of Lords.
Now we are going through into the House of Commons, where MPs make decisions on new laws. Let's walk through this beautiful arch. There are two statues, one on each side of the arch. Both of these two men were Prime Ministers. One is David Lloyd George, and the other - Sir Winston Churchill. They represent the two main British political parties - the Labour Party and the Conservative Party. We have a tradition: if you're a Conservative, touch Churchill's shoe, and if you're Labour, touch Lloyd George's shoe. Have you touched a shoe? Now let's turn right.
Do you see two long narrow corridors on your left and on your right? These are very important for the whole country because MPs come here to vote on bills for new laws. On the left there is the "aye", or yes, lobby. MPs who agree with a bill go there. On the right there is the "no" lobby for MPs who want to vote against the bill. Then the officials count the "ayes" and the "noes" to get the results. So in the British Parliament MPs don't vote by pushing a button; they vote with their feet.
Let's go through the "no" lobby and into the House of Commons, where you'll see that the benches are green. The chamber here isn't very big. In fact, there are only places for 437 people on the benches, but there are 650 MPs, so sometimes they have to sit on the steps when the House is full. Now we're standing behind the Speaker's chair. The Speaker is the person who presides over the House of Commons.
Now look at the floor. Can you see two red lines in front of the benches on each side of the chamber? That's part of a tradition too. The distance between these two lines is two swords' lengths. In the old days when MPs used to carry swords, it was dangerous if they got angry with each other. So these two lines are here to remind MPs that they shouldn't start a fight, and they can't go over this line when they are speaking in a debate.
Today there's nobody here, so you won't see the Mace, which is put on this table when the House of Commons is sitting. The Mace is the symbol of the power which Parliament won from the King a long time ago, and MPs have a lot of respect for it. It even has its own guard, who has a very big sword.
Now let's leave the House of Commons and go to Westminster Hall. This is the oldest part of the Palace of Westminster, and it's more than a thousand years old. The son of William the Conqueror... Do you remember the Norman leader who won the Battle of Hastings? Well, it was his son who started the building of the hall. This building has seen a lot of famous events. In 1605 Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament, and in World War II bombs fell on it.

На эту работу вам дается три минуты.

1. How many parts does the Palace of Westminster consist of?

a) one

b) two

c) three

2. What are the main colours of the Houses of Parliament?

a) gold, red and blue

b) gold, green and red

c) red and green

3. Who writes the Queen's Speech?

a) the Queen

b) the Government

c) the Lord Chancellor

4. Which are Britain's two main political parties?

a) Democratic, Republican and Conservative

b) Conservative and Democratic

c) Labour and Conservative

5. Whose shoe should a Conservative touch?

a) David Lloyd George's

b) Winston Churchill's

c) The Queen's

6. Why do MPs sometimes sit on the steps?

a) There are more MPs than seats in the House of Commons,

b) It's a part of an old tradition,

c) It's a punishment for those who are late.

7. When can you see the Mace in the House of Commons?

a) It's always there,

b) Only when the Queen comes,

c) When the House is debating.

8. How old is Westminster Hall?

a) more than a thousand years old

b) more than a hundred years old

c) more than four hundred years old