英美文化课后.docVIP

Unit1 Britain is no longer an imperial country the commonwealth of nations includes all European countries 1 in 10 of the British population are of non-European ethnicity the stereotype of the English gentlemen never applied the majority of the British people great Britain includes 3 constituent countries England Scotland and Wales northern Ireland is part of great Britain when people outside the UK talk about England, they mistake it as Britain people the Scots and welsh have a strong sense of being British Scotland was never conquered by the Romans most people in Scotland speak old Celtic language called” Gaelic” Scotland was unified with England through peaceful means Wales is rich in coal deposits Cardiff, the capital of Wales is a large city the title of prince of Wales is held by a welsh according to tradition unit3 it is no doubt that British is the oldest representative democracy in the world in Britain, the process of state-building has been one of evolution rather than revolution, in contrast to France and the US the oldest institution of the government in Britain is the monarchy the divine right of the king means the sovereign derived his authority from his subjects as the king in theory had god on his side, it was thought that he should exercise absolute power the term” parliament” was first officially used in 1066 to describe the gathering of feudal barons and representatives from countries and towns British is both a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy British, like Israel, has s written constitutions of the sort which most countries have Common laws are laws which have been established through common practice in the courts Unie4 in the UK, a government cannot stand for longer than five years except in exceptional circumstances the parliament can call an election sooner tan five years anyone who is eligible to vote with 500 pounds as deposit can stand as an MP Each main party is given some time on national TV to “sell” their polici