Context 21 The UK – Tradition and Change: Active Vocabulary
Words in Context: A Dynamic Country Steeped in Tradition
national region
(l. 2) / England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are national ~s belonging to the United Kingdom. / Region, in der eine Nation lebt, z.B. Wales oder Schottland
island nation
(l. 3) / Tonga is an ~ in the South Pacific. / Inselstaat
Empire
(l. 4) / At its greatest the British ~ covered almost a quarter of the world. / Imperium;
Kaiserreich
permanent member
(l. 7) / ‘The coach just made me a ~ member of the team!’ / ständiges Mitglied
United Nations Security Council
(l. 7) / China is one of the five permanent members of the ~ Nations Security Council. / UN Sicherheitsrat,
Sicherheitsrat der Vereinten Nationen
trendsetter
(l. 10) / Amy Winehouse was the ~ for a new generation of singer-songwriters. / Trendsetter
time-honoured tradition
(l. 12) / Ice swimming is a ~ tradition in Russia. / althergebrachte Tradition;
altehrwürdige Tradition
constitutional monarchy
(l. 13) / Like the UK, the Netherlands also has a ~ monarchy. / konstitutionelle Monarchie
Established Church
(l. 13) / The ~ Church is the official religion in a country. / Staatskirche
Church of England
(l. 14) / The C~ of England has voted in favour of women becoming bishops. / Anglikanische Kirche
monarch
(l. 14) / Should a ~ have the right to be above the law? / Monarch;
Herrscher
Archbishop of Canterbury
(l. 14) / The ~ of Canterbury has appealed for funding for the restoration of the cathedral. / Erzbischof von Canterbury
(to) reign
(l. 16) / The queen ~ed over the country kindly. / herrschen; hier: auf die repräsentative Rolle des Monarchen bezogen
(to) rule (a country)
(l. 16) / During the time Ivan the Terrible ~d Russia many people were executed. / (ein Land) regieren
Government
(l. 16) / The British ~ plans to introduce a minimum price for alcohol. / Regierung
Prime Minister
(l. 17) / The ~ Minister will hold talks with state leaders this week. / Premierminister
Cabinet
(l. 17) / The ~ discussed new immigration laws at the meeting today. / Kabinett,
Ministerrat
Parliament
(l. 17) / The British ~ has been criticised on its lack of checks on ministers’ expenses. / Parlament
lower house
(l. 18) / There are 646 MPs in the ~ house. / Unterhaus
House of Commons
(l. 18) / There was a protest about father’s rights outside the ~ of Commons today. / Bezeichnung des Unterhauses im Parlament des Vereinigten Königreiches
upper house
(l. 18) / Members of the ~ house are not elected. / Oberhaus
House of Lords
(l. 19) / The amendment was passed today in the ~ of Lords by 210 votes to 90. / Bezeichnung des Oberhauses im Parlament des Vereinigten Königreichs
written constitution
(l. 21) / = a document listing and limiting the powers of the government / schriftliche Verfassung
legislative power has been devolved
(l. 23) / = the power to make laws has been transferred to a more local level / die Legislative wurde auf lokale Ebene übertragen
Scottish Parliament
(l. 24) / Teenagers will address the Scottish ~ this week on the topic of education. / schottisches Parlament
national assembly
(l. 24) / Wales and Northern Ireland are governed by national ~ies. / Nationalversammlung
devolution
(l. 26) / In September 1997 Northern Ireland and Scotland voted in favour of ~. / Dezentralisierung;
Machtübertragung
Supreme Court
(l. 26) / = the highest court of a state / Oberster Gerichtshof
final court of appeals
(l. 27) / = the court where a decision made by a lower court can be changed / Oberstes Berufungsgericht
constitutional court
(l. 27) / = the court which deals with constitutional matters / Verfassungsgericht
constitutional reform
(l. 29) / = change of the constitution with the intention to improve it / Verfassungsreform
school system
(l. 32) / Uniform is just one point where British and American school ~s differ. / Schulsystem
national curriculum

(l. 33) / The government has recently changes the national ~ to include more modern technology. / zentraler Lehrplan
(to) eliminate inequalities
(l. 34) / A compulsory minimum wage helps to eliminate ~. / Ungleichheiten aus der Welt schaffen
political reform
(l. 38) / A leading UK think tank is urging ~ reform in order to overcome the crisis. / politische Reform
classless society
(l. 38) / Early settlers in the US wanted to establish a classless ~. / klassenlose Gesellschaft
social status
(l. 39) / Social ~ is very important to the Smith family. / gesellschaftliche Stellung
A1 Looking for Mr Average
(to) be in debt
(l. 2) / I was in ~ for a long time after leaving university. / verschuldet sein
statistic
(l. 4) / S~s show that over £7.5 billion are spent abroad by British tourists. / Statistik
(to) range from … to …
(l. 10) / The age of people in my knitting group ~s from 17 to 88. / sich erstrecken
overweight (adj)
(l. 10) / Almost a quarter of the UK population may be ~. / übergewichtig
average person
(l. 14) / In the UK the ~ person does not own a BMW. / Durchschnittsmensch
(to) reveal sth. about sb./sth.
(l. 17) / Your taste in clothes can ~ a lot about your personality. / etwas über jdn./etwas verraten
(to) match many criteria
(l. 19) / I’m sorry, but unfortunately you don’t match many ~ for the vacancy. / vielen Kriterien entsprechen
(to) narrow the search
(l. 24) / We have found clues which will help us ~ the search. / die Suche eingrenzen
(to) specialize in sth.
(l. 25) / I’d like to ~ in developing web pages when I leave school. / spezialisiert sein auf etwas
(to) stand out from the rest
(l. 47) / ‘If you want to ~ out from the rest, you need to stop wearing grey clothing!’ / aus der Masse herausstechen
outskirts (pl)
(l. 49) / I’ve lived on the ~ of London for about 10 years. / Vorort;
Stadtrand
(to) become apparent
(l. 57) / It has become ~ that he lied to everyone. / bekannt werden;
sich herausstellen
virtual
(l. 64) / I’ve ~ly finished my homework – I’ve only got one more paragraph to write. / so gut wie;
quasi
recipe
(l. 83) / ‘Your plan is a ~ for success!’ / (Koch-)Rezept; hier: Garantie
contentment
(l. 83) / After the meal Carlos patted his stomach with a sigh of ~. / Zufriedenheit
A2 A Humble People
self-assessment
(l. 2) / = the process of judging your own progress or achievements / Selbsteinschätzung
inventive
(l. 3) / He always had ~ excuses for not doing his homework. / einfallsreich
irresponsible
(l. 5) / Driving while using a mobile phone is extremely ~. / verantwortungslos
ill-educated
(l. 5) / = having a bad education / schlecht ausgebildet
greedy
(l. 6) / She’s so ~ – she just ate all the sweets without offering me one. / (hab)gierig
rude
(l. 7) / It is ~ not to say ‘Please’ and ‘Thank you’. / unhöflich;
rüpelhaft
self-esteem
(l. 12) / I’d like to start an art course to help me build up my ~. / Selbstachtung,
Selbstwertgefühl
composite term
(l. 18) / = an expression made up of two or more parts / zusammengesetzte Bezeichnung
racial and religious tension
(l. 27) / Many wars have been caused because of ~ and religious tension. / ethnische und religiöse Spannungen
A3 Benjamin Zephaniah on Britain
(to) adapt
(l. 11) / I’ve had to ~ to the cultural differences since moving here. / anpassen
B1 The Queen
(to) attend a reception
(l. 3) / I ~ed a reception at the palace and met the Queen and lots of actors. / einem Empfang beiwohnen,
einen Empfang besuchen
(to) stroll
(l. 7) / She spent whole afternoons ~ing through the park. / schlendern, flanieren
(to) be moved
(l. 14) / He was ~ to tears by the terrible state of the children in the poor house. / gerührt, ergriffen
sharp
(l. 20) / He has a very ~ sense of humour. / intelligent,
scharfsinnig
(to) exercise power
(l. 25) / The President can ~ his power by vetoing laws made by Congress. / Macht ausüben
popular consent
(l. 31) / The law was changed by popular ~. / Volkskonsens,
Übereinstimmung eines Volkes
peculiar
(l. 31) / Red post boxes are ~ to the UK. / hier: eigentümlich;
eigen
B2 The Church
(to) ignore sb./sth.
(l. 3) / He ~d the warning and entered the lion’s cage. / jdn./etwas ignorieren
irrelevant
(l. 6) / Avoid putting any ~ information in your essay. / Unwichtig;
belanglos
(to) imply
(l. 11) / Are you ~ing that the butler had something to do with the murder? / Andeuten
a degree of
(l. 11) / There is a ~ of uncertainty over where the funding ort he project will be found. / Ein gewisses Maß an;
ein wenig
(to) reject sb./sth.
(l. 12) / I auditioned for PopPrincess but they ~ed me. / Jdn./etwas ablehnen
opinion poll
(l. 13) / The opinion ~ indicated that the Democrats have a strong lead. / Meinungsumfrage
(to) take sth. at face value
(l. 14) / You can’t just ~ things at ~ value; you have to think for yourself. / etwas für bare Münze nehmen
(to) be indifferent (to sb./sth.)
(l. 24) / Since Julie didn’t care about school, she was also ~ to her grades. / gleichgültig
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Context 21 The UK – Tradition and Change: Active Vocabulary
objection to sb./sth.
(l. 26) / I don’t have any ~ to giving him the job. / Einwand, Widerspruch gegen jdn./etwas
(to) refrain from doing sth.
(l. 33) / Please ~ from putting your feet on the seats. / etwas unterlassen
tedious
(l. 34) / Some people might think my life sounds ~ but I’m very happy with it. / Langweilig
suspicious (of/about sb./sth.)
(l. 38) / Her ~ behaviour was reported to the police. / verdächtig, suspekt
B3 The Political Parties
credible
(l. 5) / It’s important to use ~ sources when writing an essay. / glaubwürdig
agenda
(l. 8) / What’s on the ~ for today’s meeting? / Tagesordung
(to) govern
(l. 13) / The new head teacher ~s the school like a prison. / regieren;
führen
appointment
(l. 21) / I’ve got an ~ at the doctor’s so I won’t be in class tomorrow morning. / Termin
desperate (to do sth./
for sth.)
(l. 25) / They were so ~ to get a job that they took the first one they were offered. / verzweifelt
B4 The National Assemblies
government policies
(l. 1) / The people went to the streets in their thousands to protest against the new ~ policies. / politische Richtlinien;
Regierungstaktiken
public services
(l. 1) / I don’t agree with the privatisation of public ~ such as healthcare. / öffentlicher Dienst
devolved government
(l. 3) / There has been a ~ government in Scotland since 1999. / dezentralisierte Regierung
referendum
(l. 6) / There are plans for a ~ on Scottish independence. / Volksbegehren,
Bürgerentscheid
(to) transfer sth./sb. to sb./sth.
(l. 7) / Mike was ~ed from one department to another. / jdn. versetzen; etwas an jdn./etwas übertragen
range
(l. 7) / The supermarket offers a ~ of food. / Auswahl
administrative
(l. 11) / The staff provided both technical and ~ support. / Verwaltungs-; administrativ
B5 The USA I
increasing
(l. 7) / The area is becoming ~ly dangerous as guerrillas regularly attack security forces. / zunehmend
(to) be bound to do sth.
(l. 8) / She’s ~ to win the competition. / etwas bestimmt tun werden
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Context 21 The UK – Tradition and Change: Active Vocabulary
it’s no accident that …
(l. 13) / It’s no ~ that the two suspects were in the bank at the same time – they’re working together! / Es ist kein Zufall, dass …
(to) see the need (for sb.) to do sth.
(l. 15) / I don’t see the ~ for you to pick me up from school every day, Mum! / die Notwendigkeit sehen, etwas zu tun
to be confident of sb./sth.
(l. 16) / She’s very ~ of herself. / von jdm./etwas überzeugt sein
to be in short supply
(l. 21) / Bananas were in short ~ during the war. / Mangelware sein
(to) launch a campaign
(l. 22) / The charity has just ~ed a campaign for the protection of children. / eine Kampagne starten
dignity
(l. 27) / People ought to be allowed to die with ~. / Würde
B7 The European Union
cautious
(headline 1) / Sam is a very ~ child and doesn’t hurt himself often. / vorsichtig
frontier
(headline 2) / The soldiers built a road block on the ~. / Grenze
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