The is the leader of the majority party in Parliament.

There are two major parties in Britain today, the Conservative Party and the Labor Party, which have been in power by turns since 1945.The two—party system of Britain was formed in the course of the development of the capitalist state and the political parties. In order to strengthen the state machine, the British bourgeosie have let it come into being and exist in one form. or another form. since the 17th century. P.S. Tregidgo once said:“The more parties there are, the less likely it is that any one of them will be strong enough in Parliament to outvote all the others; but when there are only two, one of them is sure to have a majority of seats. This helps to ensure a strong and stable government.”This may be the reason why the British have the two party system.

The division into two parties grew out the establishment of a Protestant Church of England in the 16th century. Because of a purely religious difference of opinion, the Puritans were separated from the broad body of the Anglican Church. The non Puritan Anglicans were on the side of the King and Church, and their supporters were called by their opponents “Tories.”The Puritans were for Parliament and trade, and their supporters were called by the “Tories”“Whigs”. The Tories and the Whigs were in power by turns for a long time. In 1833,the Tory party split into two and its name was changed to Conservative. In the 1860s the Whigs became Liberals. From that time on, the Liberals and the Conservatives were in office by turns until 1922.The policies they put into effect were sometimes different, but they were both controlled by the rich.

The working class became more and more unwilling to follow the Conservatives and the Liberals. They wanted to have their own party. So the Labor party was formed by the trade unions. After 1922 the Labor Party gradually replaced the Liberal Party to become one of the two major parties in Great Britain.

C-25.What does “it” stand for in Para 1 with underline?

A、The two party system.

B、The state machine.

C、The Parliament.

D、The capitalist state.

C-26. We can learn from what P.S Tregidgo once said that ____.

A、if there are parties in Britain, none of them will be strong enough to have control in the government

B、the more patients there are, the more likely it is that they will have the decisive say in the government

C、the two party systems contributes to the establishment of a powerful and long lasting government

D、if there are only two parties in Britain, it will be easy for the government to control them

C-27. What can we infer from the forming of the Tory Party and the Whig Party?

A、These two parties originally believed in different religions.

B、These two parties were established under the influence of different religious believes.

C、The British King and the Parliament supported different religions because they were for the two party system.

D、The British King and the Parliament were supported by different parties for political reasons.

A、Great Expectations

B、A Tale of Two Cities

C、The Adventures of Oliver Twist

D、Hard Times

Big Ben is the great clock high up in the tower of the Parliament building.Big Ben's story started in 1834.In that year the old parliament building burned down.Its clock tower crashed to the ground.There had to be a new building and a new clock.

Plans were made.They called for a "King of Clocks, the biggest and best in the world? So the clock had to be big.And it had to keep very good time.The big clock was made in two years.But it couldn't be put in the tower.The tower wasn't even built! Five more years went by before the clock tower was finished.Then the giant hour bell was put in place.It rang out for the first time on July 11, 1859.

The great bell had to have a name.A meeting of Parliament was called to pick one.The clock is the King of Clocks?one man said."Why not call the Queen of Bells?"

"Then why not Victoria?"said another.(Victoria was the British queen at that time.)

The talk about names went on and on.Then Benjamin Hall got up to speak.He was a big man whom the others liked.By this time they were all tired.Someone shouted."Why not call it Big Ben?"

Everybody laughed, and the meeting broke up.But Big Ben it was from then on.Not just the bell, but the whole clock.

(1) The new clock began striking years after the old clock had crashed down.

A.2

B.5

C.15

D.25

(2) The plans said that the new clock had to.

A.be named at a parliament meeting

B.be called Big Ben

C.be made in two years

D.be big and keep good time

(3) The clock tower was built five years after.

A.the clock was made

B.the hour bell was made

C.the old Parliament building burned down

D.the new Parliament building was completed

(4) Originally, the British Parliament called the meeting in order to name.

A.the clock

B.the bell

C.the clock tower

D.the whole building

(5) Big Ben was named after.

A.the king of England

B.the British queen

C.a man in Parliament

D.the clock maker

A、impartially

B、assess

C、judge

D、system

A、A he has shipped the goods

B、B. he has presented the documents

C、C. the documents presented comply with the credit terms

D、D. the importer has taken delivery of the goods