Variant 8
1.Read the text. Mark the statements True or False according to the information in the text.
1. Cities do not provide museums, parks, and other cultural facilities.
2. One of the important functions of government activities is city planning.
3. Governments of modern cities form a larger constitutional regime.
4. Public utility services are provided only by a city government.
5. In federal constitutions city government falls within the jurisdiction of the state government.
6. Counties and districts in Britain perform separate functions.
7. The municipalities in Japan have the same structure and legal status.
City Government
City government is a system of governmental institutions that serve an urban area. Modern cities are almost always contained within the boundaries of modern states, and their governments form parts of a larger constitutional regime that usually includes state or provincial governments and a national government.
A city government’s most important functions are to provide law enforcement and fire prevention; elementary and secondary education; water supply, sewage and refuse collection and disposal; construction, maintenance, and lighting of the streets; regulation of building safety and housing standards; the provision of public housing; various welfare services for the needy; health protection; and environmental services. Cities also provide museums, parks, play grounds and other cultural and recreation facilities. Publicutility services that supply water, electricity, gas, and public transport may be provided by a city government or by commercial companies that are closely regulated by the government.
City planning, which involves the coordination of all governmental activities, is another important function. City governments typically achieve their land-planning goals by enacting zoning laws that govern the use of land and buildings, the density of population, the height and spacing of structures.
There are three principal types of city or municipal systems of government: (1) the decentralized system found in federal constitutions; (2) the decentralized system found in unitary constitutions; (3) the supervisory system found under the French type administration.
In federal constitutions, city government tends to fall within the jurisdiction of the state or provincial government rather than of the national government. This is a position of the United States, and it accounts for the great diversity of municipal organization existing in that country.
In Britain Local Government Act of 1972 created a two-tier system of counties and districts. Both counties and districts have independent, locally elected councils that perform separate functions: county authorities are generally responsible for large scale services, while district authorities are generally responsible for more local ones.
In Japan the municipalities consist of cities, towns , and villages. All have the same structure and legal status but differ in powers. A city must have a population of not less than 50,000 , of which at least 60 percent must engage in commerce and industry; and it must possess civic halls, a sewage system, libraries, and other public amenities.
In Latin American countries the tendency is to adopt the basic principles of the supervisory system. This involves appointing central government officers who exercise control over local authorities.
2.Find in the text the equivalents for the following word combinations.
обеспечивать соблюдение законности; водоснабжение; коммунальные услуги;
достигать цели; плотность населения; подпадать под юрисдикцию; большое разнообразие; двухуровневая система; как…так и…; выполнять функции; отвечать за;
заниматься торговлей; осуществлять руководство.
3.Give forms derived from these verbs.
serve, form, provide, collect, protect, achieve, exist, create, elect, perform, possess, appoint.
4. Complete these sentences. Use the correct form of the words from Exercise 3.
1. After World War II, a radical reform of local government took place directed towards ……… of political democracy in Japan.
2. The new constitution provided that local authorities should ……… by popular vote.
3. In heavily populated areas in Britain ……… of certain services falls upon more powerful metropolitan district authorities.
4. The city-manager system typically consists of a small elected council that decides the budget and ……… a manager.
5. The services now ……… by city governments are different in nature and wider in scope than in the past.
6. Municipal, or city, governments are responsible for delivering most ……… .
5. Make your own sentences using active vocabulary.
an urban area to provide services law enforcement to achieve goals welfare services to fall within the jurisdiction public-utility services to perform functions recreation facilities to exercise control