The Power of Government

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 364.

Text 1

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank the Commission of the European Communities for making this work possible and Mr D Withers for his assistance.

Exercise 1.

Look through the text and write down all terms referring to communication satellites and systems.

Exercise2.

Read the text and translate it. Consult a dictionary. Be ready to translate the text in class in written form. (Translation-test)

Exercise3.

Make an oral report on one of the following problems:

1. The INTELSAT global network.

2. The main advantages of satellite communication for mobile stations.

3. Future developments of satellite communication.

Every independent country has its own form of government. The governments that people establish for themselves can influence their lives in many ways. The primary functions of government are to keep order among citizens, provide certain common services (such as education, communications, and transportation), and protect the people from attack by hostile countries. Governments decide such matters as what kinds of property should be publicly owned rather than privately owned and how much a person must pay in taxes. Governments can set educational requirements, place limits on immigration, and draft citizens into military service.

In most modern nations there are also agreements between the government and the governed. One basic form of agreement is a constitution, which defines (and limits) what a government can do and how it can do it.