大学生熬夜现代大学英语听力 UINT6

y, the House of Commons and the House of Lords. They meet together only on occasions of ceremonial significance, such as the state opening of Parliament, although the agreement of all three is normally required for legislation.

The House of Commons consists of 659 elected members called Members of Parliament or MPs. Elections to the House of Commons are an important part of Britain’s democratic system. The main purpose of the House of Commons is to make laws by passing Acts of Parliament, as well as to discuss current political issues. Some of the liveliest sessions in the Commons debating chamber take place at Prime Minister's Question Time when MPs have the opportunity to quiz the Prime Minister on issues of the day.

The House of Lords consists of around 669 non-elected members, including hereditary peers and peeresses, life peers and peeresses and two archbishops and 24 senior bishops of the Church of England. Its main legislative function is to examine and revise bills from the Commons. It also acts in a legal capacity as the final court of appeal. The Lords cannot normally prevent proposed legislation from becoming law if the Commons insists on it. The present Government is committed to reforming the House of Lords to make it more democratic and representative. As a first step, it has removed the right of some 750 hereditary peers to sit and vote in Parliament solely on the basis that they inherited their seats. The remaining 92 hereditary peers are allowed to sit temporarily in the transitional chain-her until the full reform programme is in place.

General elections are held after Parliament has been "dissolved", either by a royal proclamation or because the maximum term between elections, five years, has expired. The decision on when to hold a general election is made by the Prime Minister.

For electoral purposes Britain is divided into constituencies, each of which returns one MP to the House of Commons. The British electoral system is based on the relative majority method, sometimes called the "first past the post" principle, which means the candidate with more votes than any other is elected.

All British citizens together with citizens of other Commonwealth countries and citizens of the Irish Republic resident in Britain may vote, provided they are aged 18 years or over and not legally barred from voting. People not entitled to vote include those serving prison sentences, peers and peeresses who are members of the House of Lords, and those kept in hospital under mental health legislation.

Voting is by secret ballot. The elector selects just one candidate on the ballot paper and marks an "X" by the candidate’s name. Voting in elections is voluntary. On average about 75 per cent of the electorate votes.

Any person aged 21 or over who is a British citizen or citizen of another Commonwealth country or the Irish Republic may stand for election to Parliament, provided they are not disqualified. People disqualified include those who

are bankrupt, those sentenced to more than one year’s imprisonment, members of the clergy, members of the House of Lords, and a range of public servants and officials. Approved candidates are usually selected by their political party organizations in the constituency which they represent, although candidates do not have to have party backing.

The leader of the political party which wins most seats (although not necessarily most votes) at a general election, or who has the support of a majority of members in the House of Commons, is by convention invited by the Sovereign to form the new government.

Task 4:

【答案】

A.

1) Marriage is completely controlled by the state and it's very selective and only the best marry the best.

2) On the plus side, all religions are tolerated. No money changes hands, in fact there is no monetary system at all, so there's no love of property and acquisition, therefore there's no greed, therefore no theft.

3) After you have your children, the State takes them away from you and they take them to this place where they teach them good habits and make them want to learn.

4) Because it is high in Tibet, surrounded by mountains and inaccessible to the whole of the world.

B.

Children in Plato's Republic go to school until they're 20 years old and then they do tests. The ones who fail these tests become businessmen, workers, farmers, and they're capitalists who are permitted to own property and to use money.

The ones who pass the tests do another 10 years of education and then they do more tests, and the ones who fail these tests become soldiers and they live in a communist society and they own no property and they don't have any money, they share everything.

The ones who pass these further tests go on to study philosophy for another 5 years, and then they live practical lives in the real world for another 15 years and then when they're 50, they become "guardians", the political leaders. And their only possession is in fact power.

C.

Four Visions of the Perfect Society



Plato’s RepublictThomas More’s UtopiatH. G. Wells’ UtopiatJames Hilton’s Shangri- La

Positiontt7tt

Political Institutionst8t10, 13t6, 17 19t

Educationtt1tt

People and Societyt3t4, 16t2, 12, 15t5, 11, 18

Childrent14, 20tt9t



【原文】

Presenter: I suppose everyone wishes the world could be a perfect place, where everyone lives in happy harmony. Well, we're going to hear about four visions of the perfect society. Going back to Ancient Greece first, Plato was born in 427 BC and he called his imaginary perfect society "the Republic". Philippa?

lippa: Now, Plato's Republic has only got 5,040 citizens and that's the number that can be addressed by one orator. The political leaders of the Republic are called "guardians". Now, children in Plato's Republic go to school until they're 20 years old and they do tests. The ones who fail these tests become businessmen, workers, farmers, and they're capitalists who are permitted t

o own property and to use money. The ones who pass the tests do another 10 years of education and then they do more tests, and the ones who fail these tests become soldiers and they live in a communist society and they own no property and they don't have any money—they share everything. The ones who pass these further tests go on to study philosophy for another 5 years, and then they live practical lives in the world—in the real world for another 15 years and then when they're 50, they become "guardians", the political leaders. And their only possession is in fact power. And in the Republic there are 360 guardians and each month 30 of these rules over the Republic.

Um... marriage is interesting: In Plato's Republic, marriage is completely controlled by the state and it's very selective and only the best marry the best. And children: The... the very.., the superior children are allowed to survive but in fact all the rest are killed at birth. And they're brought up not by their parents, but collectively as a group.

Presenter: Well, thank you, Philippa. Now, Thomas More lived from 1478 to 1535 and he actually invented the term Utopia, didn't he, Terry?

Terry: Yes. Yes, he took it from the.., from the Greek, and it means "No place". Thomas More's Utopia is on an island 800 kilometers round, somewhere in the Pacific with therefore, I suppose, a reasonably fair climate.

On the political side it's not everything we'd consider right now, but he had it ruled by a king, where slaves did menial work, and where women were inferior to men. On the plus side, however, all religions were tolerated. No money changes hands; in fact there is no monetary system at all, so there's no... no love of... of property and acquisition; there fore there's no greed, therefore no theft.

Every adult male works six hours a day at a job that he likes to do and a job which sepses the needs of the community. He doesn't receive payment, as I said, in money: He receives what he needs from a… a common store—food, drink that sort of thing for his family. Each group of 30 families eject a leader, and every 10 leaders elect a chief; the chief becomes a member of the national council The national council elects one king, who rules for life, so it's a sort of democratically elected king.

Education…well, that emphasizes vocational subjects, obviously subjects which will be useful to the people who work, for the benefit of the community? so it all ties in. And war is only acceptable when it's absolutely necessary; there are to be no common squabbles or little petty rows.

Presenter: Fine! H. G. Wells, who was born in 1866 and died in 1946, also had a vision of Utopia. Polly?

Polly: Well, Wells' Utopia is a world state, so that means one government for the whole world. And in this world government the state owns all the land and 31t the sources of power and food. But individuals can still own and inherit property, so you can have some personal things. He's really into hig

h-tech: He has these visions of these amazing electric, trains that go at 300 kilometers per hour and they've got libraries and sofas and reading rooms—it's really just extraordinary. And he thinks that most work should be done by machines, which is a nice idea, so people have a lot of free time.

Now, his world is governed by this special ruling class and you have to take a test to qualify, and if you qualify you're not allowed to smoke or drink or gamble, but you can tell the rest of the world what to do!

Personal details of every person on the planet are kept in what I guess is a huge computer in Paris, and this information is used to control population and labor and tell the underlings how to live their lives. Um... and if you want to have children, you have to produce this record that shows you're healthy, and you have enough money and you're the right age. And after you have your children, the state takes them away from you and they take them to this place where they teach the children good habits and make the children want to learn, except I don't know how they make the children do that.

Presenter: Hm, fine! And finally, Shangri-La. James Hilton wrote about this magic land in his novel Lost Horizon, which was made into a film in 1937, and I believe, was remade in 1973, wasn't it, Tony?

Tony: Yes, that's right. Shangri-La is high in Tibet, China, and it's surrounded by mountains and it's inaccessible to the whole of the world, so it's idyllic. Now, in Shangri-La people live to be at least 200 years old or more. They all eat magic berries that keep them young, and they practice yoga and they all follow the teachings of Buddha. The inhabit-ants of Shangri-La devote their entire lives to contemplation, research and the pursuit of wisdom. They're all good-mannered, honest and sober, and very happy.



Task 5:

【答案】

A.

1) T

2) F

3) T

4) F

5) F

B.

1) The Federal Government has a Senate and House of Commons, and each province, also has a House of Commons.

2) It has two red bands at either end with a red maple leaf in the middle.

3) Yes, they do. Anyone who does not bother to vote has to pay a fine.

4) The New Zealand Parliament has only one house, which it calls the House of Representatives. New Zealand MPs are elected by proportional representaton, while the UK uses the "first past the post" system.

5) The Queen is head of these three governments, but is represented by a Governor- General.



【原文】

The Canadian government is more British in style than American, except that it is a federal government. The head of government is the Prime Minister, often called the "PM" am.

The Federal Government has a Senate and House of Commons, and each province also rigs a House of Commons. Canada now belongs to the Commonwealth of Nations—nations which once belonged to the British Empire. Her ties with the mother country are not as strong as they were. She has a new flag which has two red bands at either end with a red maple

ts own flag. States flags may show the state flower or bird, other emblem.








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