英美概况考试名词解释

1.the House of LordsThe house of Lords consists of Lords Spiritual,who are the Archbishops and most prominent bishops of the church of England ;and the Lords Temporal,which refers to those Lords who either have inherited the seat from their forefathers or they have been appointed .The Lords mainly represent themselves instead of the interests of the public.2. The house of CommonsThe House of commons is the real center of British political life because it is the place where about 650 elected representatives(Members of Parliament) make and debate the policy.These MPs are elected in the General Elections and should represent the interests of the people who vote of them.3.The Constitution(of the UK)Britain has no written Consitution.The foundations of the British state are laid out in satute law,which are laws passed by Parliament;the common laws,which are laws established through common practice in the courts;and conventions.4.The functions of ParliamentTo pass laws,to vote for taxation,to scrutinize government poliy ,administration and expenditure and to debate the major issuses of day.prhensive SchoolComprhensive School are the most popular secondary schools in Britain today,such schools admit children without reference to their academic abilities and provide a general education.Pupils can study everything from academic subjects like literature to more practical subjects like working. 6.Grammer schoolGrammar School is a type of secondaryschools in Britain.Grammer schools elect children at the age of 11 through an examination called “the 11-plus”.Those children with the highest marks go to Grammer schools.These schools lay emphasis on advanced academic subjects rather than the more general curriculum of the comprehensive schools and expect many of their pupils to go on to universities.7.the making of Britain’s foreign policyThe general direction of Britain’s foreign policy is maily decided by the Prime Minister and Cabinet . The Foreign and Commonwealth Office,the main government department,plays a significant role in the making of Britain’s foreign policy.Many other government minisities such as the Ministry of Defence al so play a part in formulating and carrying out the government’s decisions .But an extremely influential palyer in Britain’s for eign policy is the Treasury.The Treasury makes decisions on how much money other departments can have each year.8．The foundations of British foreign policyThe contemporary foreign policy of theUK is greatly influenced by its imperial history and also by its geopolitical traits.As Britain lost its empire so recently,British policy-makers frequently forget that Britain is not as influential as it used to be in world affairs.Another decisive influence upon the way Britain handle its external affairs is geopolitical attitude to Europe.9、the commonwealthIn the author’s option, the commonwealth is a voluntary associati on of states which is made up mostly of former British colonies. There are 50 members of the commonwealth: many of these are developing countries like India and Cyprus; others are developed nations like Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The commonwealth was set up as a form for continued cooperation and as asort of support net work.10、Britain an the EUBritain joined the European Economic Community in 1973 which is now called the EU. Britain participation in the EU remains controversial. At the center of the controversy is the fact that it is not clear about what the EU is and what it will become. The UK has always been interested in encouraging free trade between countries and is therefore very supportive of the UE as a free trade area. Britain likes to regard the EU as a place where economic cooperation is possible and where a flow of trained personnel and goods are possible. But Britain has always been less enthusiastic about giving up its national sovereignty to a European government.11、The three traditions of Christmas in BritainThere are three Christmas traditions which are particulary British. One is the Christmas Pantomime, a comical play. The main made character is played by a young woman which the main female character, often an ugly woman called” the pame” is played by a man. Awother British Christmas tradition is to hear the Qween give her Christmas message to her realm over the television and radio. A third British tradition is boxing pay, which falls on the day after Christmas. Traditionally, it was on Boxing Pay that people gave Christmas gift or money to their staff or servants. Now that most British people do not have servants, this custom is not longer observed. However, a new Boxing Pay stock decorations, food., cards, and gift items at low prices.12、Cricket and “fair play”Cricket was one of the very first team sports in Britain to have organized rules and to be played according to the same rules nationally. The reason that fixed rules were applied to cricket so early on was a financial one: aristocrats loved betting on cricket matches and if people were going to risk money on a game, they wanted to ensure that the game world be played fairly. In British people from all walks of lift play cricket, but in the 19th century, cricket was a sport played mainly by the upper classes. It was a kind of a “snob” game played by boys who attended public schools. As generations of public school boys grew up to become the civil servants and rulers of the UK and its colonies cricket becam e associated with a set of moral values, in particular the idea of “fair play” without supposedly characterized British government.13.the bill of rightsThe Bill of rights consists of the first 10 amendments which were added to the constitution in 1791。