英语国家概况Chaper3.ppt

Chaper 3 Government and the Commonwealth Katherine Election held every five years (II、8) in the 646 constituencies（选区） candidate who wins the most votes in each constituency becomes a Member of Parliament The party which holds the majority of seats in Parliament forms the government, with its party leader becoming the Prime Minister. Independent candidates are unlikely to win the election,for voters usually wont vote for them because even if they were to win the seat,they would be powerless in Parliment against the larger parties.(III、3） The electoral campaigns(选举活动） The electoral campaigns usually involve advertising in newspapers,door-to-door campaigning and leaflets（传单）. The main parties are given short periods of time on national television to present their policies to the public. Apart from the parties own publicity, newspapers and TV programs spend a lot of time discussing the campaigns,interviewing politicians and predicting the results. (IV、1） The Commonwealth Origin of the Commonwealth The Commonwealth of Nations is the successor of the British Empire. In 1949, British was dropped from the title of the British Commonwealth of Nations. In 1949, the London Declaration（《伦敦宣言》)accepted and recognized Indias continued membership as a republic. From 1960 on, new members from Africa, the Caribbean region(加勒比地区), the Mediterranean region(地中海区域) and the Pacific region (太平洋地区）joined the Commonwealth. Commonwealth Countries Characteristics and Functions The Commonwealth of Nations is a voluntary association of independent sovereign states（独立主权国）, all of which acknowledge the British monarch（英国女王）as the symbolic head of the association. The Commonwealth is not a political union of any sort, and its member states have full autonomy（自治权）to manage their own internal and external affairs. It is primarily an organization in which countries with diverse economic backgrounds have an opportunity to interact closely as equals after gaining independence. The primar