Сочинения по Великобритании

Art galereysof London Speaking about art galereysof London we should first of all mention The national galery, The nationalportret galerey and The tate galery. Iwould like to tell you about National portret galery and aboutTate galery. The national galeryhouses one of the richest and most extensive collections of painting in the world.It stands to the north of the Trafalgar Square. the galerey was desighned by William Wilkins and build in 1834-37. The collection covers allschools and periodsof painting, but is a specially famous for it s examples of Rembrant and Rubents.

The british schoolsis only moderately represented as the national collections are shared with the Tate galerey. The National galerey was founded in 1824when the government bought the collection of John Angerstein which included 38paintings.The Tate gtalery houses thenational collection of british painting from the 16-th century to the present day. It is also the national galerey for modern art, including painting and sculpture made in Britain, Europe, America and other countries.

It was opened in 1897 as the nationalgalerey of british art. It owesit s establishment to Suie Henritate who built the galerey andgave his own collection of 65 painting. LondonLondon is the capital of the United Kingdom, its economic, political andcultural centre.It is one of the world s most important ports and one of the largest cities in the world.London with its suburbs has apopulation of about 11 million people.

London has been a capital for nearly a thousand years. Many of itsancient buildings still stand. The most famous of them are the Towerof London, where the crown jewels arekept, Westminster Abbey and St. Paul sCathedral.Most visitors also want to see the Houses of Parliament,Buckingham Palace the Queen s home with its Changing of theGuards and the many magnificentmuseums. Once London was a small Romantown on the north bank of the Thames.Slowly it grew into one of the world s major cities.

Exchange and the Bank of England are here,too. The East End is the district wheremostly working people live. The old port area is now called Docklands . There are now new office buildingsin Docklands, andDifferent areas of London seem like different cities. The West End isa rich man world of shops, offices and theatres. The City of London isthe district where most offices and banks are concentrated the Royalthousands of new flats and houses.By the day the whole of London is busy. At night, offices are quietand empty, but the West End stays alive, because this is whereLondoners come to enjoy themselves.There are two opera houses here, several concert halls and many theatres, as well as cinemas.

In nearby Soho thepubs, restaurants and night clubs are busy half the night.Like a l big cities, London has streets and concrete buildings, but It also has many big parks, full of trees,flowers and grass. In the middle ofHydePark or Kensmgtoa Gardens you will amp inkthat you are in thecountry, miles away. Many peoplelive outside be centre of London in the subulbs, and they travel to work in shops and offices bytrain, bus or undergrouadThe British ParliamentThe British Parliament is the oldest in the world.

It originated in the 12th century asWitenagemot, the body of wise councellers whom the King needed to consultpursuing his policy. The BritishParliament consists of the House of Lords and the House of Commons and the Queen asits head. The House of Commons plays the major role in law-making.

It consistsof Members of Parliament called MPs for short . Each of them represents an area in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. MPs are elected either at ageneral election or at a by-election following the death or retirement. Parliamentary elections are held every 5 years and it isthe Prime Minister who decides on the exact day of the election. The minimum voting age is 18.And the voting is taken by secret ballot.The election campaignlasts about 3 weeks, The Britishparliamentary system depends on politicals parties.

The party which wins themajority of seats forms the goverment and its leader usually becomes Prime Minister. The Prime Minister chooses about 20 MPs from his party to become the cabinet of ministers. Each minister is responsible for a particular area in the goverment.The second largest party becomes the official opposition with its own leader and shadow cabinet . The leader of the opposition is a recognized post in the House of Commons.

The parliament and the monarch have different roles in thegoverment and they only meet together on symbolic occasions, such as coronationof a new monarch or the opening of the parliament. In reality, the House of Commons is the one of three which has true power. The Houseof Commons is made up of six hundred and fifty elected members, it is presided over by the speaker, a member acceptable to the whole house.MPs sit on two sides of thehall, one side for the governing party and the other for the opposition.

The first 2rows of seats are occupied by the leading members of both parties called front benches The back benches belong to the rank-and-life MPs.Each session of the House ofCommons lasts for 160-175 days. Parliament has intervals during his work. MPs are paid for their parliamentary work and have to attend the sittings.As mention above, the House of Commons plays themajor role in law making. The procedure is the following a proposed law abill has to go through three stages in order to become an act ofparliament, these are called readings . The first reading is a formality and issimply the publication of the proposal.

The second reading involves debate onthe principles of the bill, it is examination by parliamentary committy. And the third reading is a reportstage, when the work of the committy isreported on to the house.This is usually the most important stage in theprocess. When the bill passes through the House of Commons, it is sent tothe House of Lords for discussion, when the Lords agree it, the bill is taken to the Queen for royal assent, when the Queen sings the bill, it becomes act of theParliament and the Law of the Land. The House of Lords has more than 1000 members, although only about 250 take an active part inthe work in the house.

Members of this Upper House are not elected, they sit therebecause of their rank, the chairman of the House of Lords is the Lord Chancellor.And he sits on a special seat, called WoolSack The members of the House of Lords debate the bill after it has been passed bythe House of Commons.

Some changes may be recommended and the agreement betweenthe two houses is reached by negotiations.The United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is situated on the British Isles. The BritishIsles consist of two large islands, Great Britain and Ireland, and about five thousands small islands.Theirtotal area is over 244 000 square kilometres.

The United Kingdom is one of the world s smaller countries. Its population is over 57 million. About 80percent of the population is urban. TheUnited Kingdom is made up of four countries England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Their capitalsare London, Cardiff, Edinburgh andBelfast respectively. Great Britain consists of England , Scotland and Wales and does not includeNorthern Ireland.But in everyday speechGreat Britain is used in the meaning of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Thecapital of the UK. is London. TheBritish Isles are separated from the Continent by the North Sea and the British Channel. The western coastof Great Britain is washed by theAtlantic Ocean and the Irish Sea.The surface of the British Isles varies very much. The north of Scotlandis mountainous and is called the Highlands. The South, which has beautiful valleys and plains, is calledthe Lowlands.The north and west ofEngland are mountainous, but the eastern, central and south- eastern parts of England are a vast plain.Mountains are not very high. Ben Nevisin Scotland is the highest mountain 1343 m . There are a lot of rivers iri Great Britain, but they are notvery long. The Severn is the longest rive while the Thames is the deepest and the most important oae. The mountains, the Atlantic Ocean andthe warm waters of the Gulf Streaminfluence the climate of the British Isles. It is mild the whole year round.

The UK. is a highly developed industrial country.

It produces and exports machinery, electronics, textile. Oneof the chief industries of the countryis shipbuilding. The UK is aconstitutional monarchy with a parliament and the Queen as Head of State.