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考研英语中你必须知道的美国政治常识
1.
美国政治的基础是宪法（
Consti
tution
）
，所有的政治运行都是建立在宪法基础之上的。
宪
法共有
27
个修正案（
Amendment
）
，补充规定了言论自由，选
举人性别等重要事务。
2.
美国政治的特征是
check
and balance
（制衡）
，
政府，国会，法院所代表三权中没有哪一
方是居于
dominate
绝对支配地位的。
3.
联邦政府只从各州政府的权力中
拿走了若干明确列举的权力，
州政府则保留着中央政府拿
走权力
之外的所有权力，所以州政府会和联邦政府发生争端。
4.
最高法院有九名法官（
justice
s
）
，一名首席大法官，八名大法官。由总统提名，民主党常<
/p>
提名自由派（
liberal
）
，现在有四个自由派。共和党常提名保守派（
conservative
）
；
现在有
四
个保守派。
还有一个摇摆派大法官是终生制，
所以大法官不一定是现任总统的人，
除非现任
总统赶上
有人离职了，他能安排自己的人进去。九个人在捍卫宪法尊严方面是不分派别的。
5.
国会分为参议院（
senate
）和众议院（
House
）人数分别为
100
名和
4
35
名；副总统是参议
院院长，
在
50:50
的时候会参与最后表决；
副总统
由总统任命；
议员基
本不是民主党员就是
共
和党员。
6.
国会拥有立法权，
但国会所通过
的议案必须经过总统的批准方能生效。
美国总统可以行使
否决权
。同时总统可以向国会提出各种咨文，包括国情咨文、预算咨
文、经济咨文、特别
咨文等，建议他认为必须的立法。
7.
政府财政预算需要得到国会参议
院和众议院批准方能生效。然而，目前由民主党把持的参
议院和由共和党控制的众议院却
针尖对麦芒，导致预算案迟迟不得通
过。
Hilary Benn's Speech in Favour of Syria
Airstrikes
英国议会辩论后的演讲！
Fabulous
Thank you very much Mr
Speaker. Before I respond to the debate, I would
like to say this directly to the
Prime
Minister: Although my right honourable friend the
Leader of the Opposition and I will walk into
diff
erent division lobbies tonight, I
am proud to speak from the same Despatch Box as
him. My right honour
able friend is not
a terrorist sympathiser, he is an honest, a
principled, a decent and a good man and I
th
ink the Prime Minister must now
regret what he said yesterday and his failure to
do what he should have
done today,
which is simply to say
‘I
am
sorry’.
Now Mr Speaker, we have had an intense
and impassioned debate and rightly so, given the
clear and pr
esent threat from Daesh,
the gravity of the decision that rests upon the
shoulders and the conscience of
every
single one of us and the lives we hold in our
hands tonight. And whatever we decision we reach,
I
hope we will treat one another with
respect.
Now we have heard
a number of outstanding speeches and sadly time
will prevent me from acknowledg
ing them
all. But I would just like to single out the
contributions both for and against the motion from
my
honourable and right honourable
friends the members for Derby South, Kingston upon
Hull West and He
ssle, Normanton,
Pontefract and Castleford, Barnsley Central,
Wakefield, Wolverhampton South East,
B
rent North, Liverpool, West Derby,
Wirral West, Stoke-on-Trent North, Birmingham
Ladywood and the h
onourable members for
Reigate, South West Wiltshire, Tonbridge and
Malling, Chichester and Wells.