Student finance

(Great Britain)

One of the first things that the Labour government did after it came to power in 1997 was to change the way in which students are supported Out went the universal, state-financed higher education that had existed since the 1960s. Maintenance grants (for living expenses and rent) were abolished, and, in 1998, tuition tees (paid to the university) came in. Today students have to pay their own way through university, relying mostly on a system of low-interest loans. This sent out a clear message that a university education was no longer a universal right, but was something that equipped

the graduate with a strong advantage in the jobs market, and therefore had to be paid for.

The new policy went down particularly badly in Scotland and Wales. First the

Scottish Parliament decided to abolish tuition fees, and then, earlier this month, the

Welsh Assembly voted to re-introduce modest means-tested student grants. The

government announced last October that it was starting a review of student finance,

thus preparing the ground for a discreet U-turn.

The principal argument against introducing tuition fees and scrapping maintenance grants is that it has deterred those young people from poorer

backgrounds fromapplying to university tor tear of goingheavily into debt. So the government will probably introduce means-tested grants to save some face

Either way, the government will have to come up with something that solves the problem of access, and also ensures that universities continue to get sufficient income from their students.

The Economist. February 23rd, 2002

_______ ЛЕКСИЧЕСКАЯ ТЕМА III___________

США.

политические партии. социальная политика

Урок 6 Словарь

Congress п. Конгресс (USA - capital С.)

Congressman п. член Конгресса

congressional elections выборы в Конгресс

(Note the use of the article in: The Congress of the United States is the chief law - making body. The main function of the US Congress is legislation. Another major function of Congress is to finance the US Government)

determine v. t. определять, устанавливать

(E.g. The US Congress has the sole right to determine taxes)

be determined to do smth быть полным решимости сделать что-л.

(E.g. He is determined to master English)

federal а. федеральный, общегосударственный (США)

- often with capital F

Federal union of states федеральный союз штатов

Federal Constitution федеральная конституция США

Federal and States budgets государственный бюджет и бюджет

(отдельных) штатов

federal tax федеральный налог

federal revenue государственные доходы

(government income from taxes, customs duties, foreign concessions, etc.)

finance v финансировать

(provide money or capital for...

E.g. One of the functions of Congress is to

finance the operation of the Government)

subsidize v. субсидировать

(E. g. This Senator is a loyal servant of General Motors which subsidized his election campaign)

sponsor v.. финансировать какую-л. организацию или

мероприятие

(to grant money to someone who needs

financial help. E.g., to sponsor a radio

programme)

Administration (USA) правительство (США)

government п. управление, форма правления

(Е. g. The government of the nation is vested in

three coordinate branches: legislative, executive

and judicial)

govern v. управлять

House of Representatives = the палата представителей
House (but both houses of
Congress - small "h")
Senate Сенат

Senator William Brown (D - N.Y.) сенатор Уильям Браун от штата Нью-Йорк

***

- "I see your views on war and peace have undergone some
changes after the elections, haven't they, Senator? You have become
war minded."

- "But those, sir, were not my views. They were my interviews.

tax налог

determine taxes определять, устанавливать размер

налога

tax loophole уклонение от уплаты налога

federal tax федеральный налог

income tax подоходный налог

"I'm sorry, Mr. Jones...

You're not rich enough to pay to taxes"

treaty n договор

парафируются

initialed

signed подписываются,

cancelled аннулируются

treates are ratified договоры ратифицируются
violated нарушаются

rejected отвергаются

... заключаются

V concluded

expire v. кончаться (о сроке договора)

(Скоро закончится срок этого договора. Е. g. This treaty will soon expire.) Кто парафировал договор? (Who initialed this treaty')

try v. судить (юр.)

trial n. судебное разбирательство

* * *

"Judge, I want you to try this chicken soup,"

"I've tried it... and my decision is that the chicken has proved an alibi."

impeach v. t. (charge with some предъявлять обвинение в нарушении закона
misconduct officers of state) высшим должностным лицом

right п. право

{

to smth. иметь право на... to do smth. syn. be entitled to do smth.

have the sole right иметь исключительное право

(E.g. The US Congress has the sole right to propose amendments to the Constitution. Ever)State is entitled to at least one representative in the House)

President-elect избранный, но еще не вступивший на пост

президент

Each housewife in the village was asked to say what she thought of the candidate.

bipartisan п. двухпартийный

(the ruling in the house of the two major political parties - the Democratic and the Republican)

(USA)

Some a wise and some are otherwise

УПРАЖНЕНИЯ

Упражнение I. Текст для перевода с листа с предварительным чтением каждого абзаца вслух:

Powers of Congress

The United State of America is a Federal union of 50 states. Its basic law in the Constitution of 1787 to which 27 amendments have been made since. The first ten amendments to the US Constitution are called collectively the "Bill of Rights".

One of the features of the US politics is the so-called bipartisan system, i.e. the ruling of the two principal parties - the Democratic and the Republican - in the political life of the country.

The Democratic Party is the older of the two, tracing its history back to 1822. The Republican Party was founded in 1856, primarily as antislavery party. Its founder is Abraham Lincoln. The Emblem of the Republican Party is elephant (strength), and that of the Democratic Party is donkey (wisdom).

Both parties are entirely free of party discipline: it is not necessary to make an application to join the party, there are no membership dues.

A clear cut difference between the two parties has not existed for more than half a century.

Donations of monopoly capital to both parties to keep them "healthy" have become public knowledge.

Under the constitution the government of the nation is vested

in three branches: the legislative (Congress), the executive (the President and his Administration) and the judicial (the Supreme Court).

The Congress of the USA is composed of two houses: the Senate and the House of Representatives. The main function of both houses is legislation, i.e making new laws or changing the old ones.

Other functions of Congress are to finance the operation of the President and his Administration and to approve The Federal budget.

Besides, Congress is entitled to determine taxes, to regulate foreign and interstate commerce, to raise and maintain the armed forces and to declare war

Упражнение II. Переведите устно со зрительной опорой краткие информационные сообщения "In Brief". Определите контекстуальное значение незнакомых вам слов и проверьте себя по словарю.

1. Colin Powell, America's Secretary of State, visited Israel, the Palestinian
territories, Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia to promote the road map - the plan for
a Middle Eastern peace agreement.

Substantive progress will have to wait until Areal Sharon. Israel's prime minister, visits America's President next week (2003).

Commentary: road map "дорожная карта' It is a phased proposal offered by the United States for ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by 2005.

2. South Korea's President has long hoped that he could melt the ice between
North and South Korea by offering the North dollops of aid and other goodies
while keeping silent about the poor human rights record, its illicit weapons
programmes and the vast conventional forces dug in just across his boarder (The
Economist, 2003).

3. France's President seeking re-election played the crime-card: more power
for police, more power tor courts and anti-crime ministry.

4. The street can give its views, but the street doesn't govern." said France's prime minister just before huge demonstrations on May 13th against his plans for Pension reform brought France almost to a halt (2003).

5. America's health secretary used religious language in calling for a ban on

cloning. "Life is a creation, not a commodity", he said.

■

6. America's interior minister imposed a ban on the import of wildlife products

from Taiwan because it said Taiwan had failed to do anything about the trade in tiger bones and rhino horn.

7. In a new outbreak of kidnapping in the Philippines, a South Korean and a
Filipino businessman were seized by gunmen in the southern island of Mindanao
Police, helped by American special forces, continued to hunt for an American
missionary couple and a Filipina nurse held on Basilan island.

8. For the moment. Blair's name is greeted here with the kind of acclaim accorded
to no British leader since Winston Churchill (and easily surpassing Margaret
Thatcher's 80s vogue). Conservatives in the Senate and House of Representatives
have nominated him for the congressional gold medal, the nation's highest mark of
national appreciation, which was first awarded to George Washington by the
Continental Congress in 1776. The previous recipients include Pope John Paul II,
Mother Teresa, Colin Powell and Churchill. Sponsored in the Senate by Elizabeth
Dole - North Carolina Republican, the medal resolution is likely to draw little oppo­
sition, if any. from either side of the aisle. (The Guardian. October 10, 2003)

9. Colin Powell. America's secretary of state, announced plans to visit Berlin: a step
towards re-establishing Iraq-torn relations with Gerhard Schroder's government. But the
Pentagon, by asking Poland to play a prominent peacekeeping role in Iraq, seemed
keener on strengthening ties with the "new Europeans".

10 Several days of fighting between Yorubas and Hausas in Lagos, Nigeria's
commercial capital, led to about 100 deaths. Tony Blair, Britain's prime minister,
arrived in Nigeria at the start of a tour-nation West African tour that also takes in
Ghana, Senegal and Sierra Leone.

11. An Egyptian court sentenced two Islamic militants to death tor trying to
murder Naguib Mahfouz, a Nobel-prize-winning novelist.

12. Somalia's transitional government, which has little or no control over the
warring country it is supposed to rule, was shut out of its parliament building for non­
payment of rent.

13. To test corruption in the police force, the interior minister sent a lorry full of
spirits on a 700-kilometre journey through the country. The police stopped it 24
times. They asked for bribes 22 times.

14. Nicolau dos Santos, a former judge who had become Brazil's most-wanted
fugitive, surrendered to police after spending some eight months in hiding. He is
accused of embezzling 164m reals ($86m) from a court-house construction project.

46

***

- Why did you steal $ 1, 500 000? - I was hungry, sir.

Упражнение III. Прочтите вслух географические названия стран из упражнений урока 6:

Jordan, Palestine, Egypt, Taiwan, Israel, Saudi Arabia, the Philippines, Poland, North and South Korea, Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Brazil, Sierra Leone. Jerusalem, Gaza, Delhi, Islamabad.

***

To fiddle while Rome burns(proverb)

Упражнение IV. Переведите текст письменно (Контрольная работа к уроку 6): Doubt cast on the Premier

Prime Minister Tony Blair conceded privately that Iraq did not have quickly deployable weapons or mass destruction as the British government was claiming as justification for war, Robin Cook, the former foreign secretary, said Sunday.

Cook said that the prime minister also made it clear to him in a conversation two weeks before combat operations began that he did not believe Saddam Hussein's weapons posed a "real and present danger" to Britain.

"I am certain." Cook writes, 'the real reason he went to war was that he found it easier to resist the public opinion ofBritain than the request of the president of the United States."

Mr Blair was so close to Mr Bush that the other presidents and prime ministers of Europe beat a path to Downing Street to be briefed on what America was really thinking It made Mr Blair a disproportionately honoured guest in Jerusalem, Gaza, Delhi, Riyadh, Islamabad - you name it. But this particular party is now over. One thing that has ended it is the changing mood in Britain. Voters - or, at least, the editorialists who claim to speak tor voters - say that it is time for Mr Blair to stay home a while and concentrate on his day job.

The Times

October 8, 2003

Урок 7

Упражнения

Упражнение I. В отличие от информационных сообщений целью публицистических текстов является не только сообщить читателю о каком-либо событии, но и воздействовать на него. Такие тексты представляют большую трудность для переводчика (см. переводческий комментарий в конце урока 7) Переведите тексты 1 - 5 с листа:

Текст 1

In his victory speech President-elect George W. Bush said: "Our nation must rise above a house devided Americans share hopes and values tar more important than any political disagreement. Republicans want the best for our nation. And so do Democrats." "I have faith that with God's help we'll create an America that is educated.

Together we will work to make all our public schools excellent, teaching every student of every background and every accent, so that no child is left behind".

Note: Public schools in the USA arc local schools controlled and paid by the stale

Текст 2