6)Powers of the Senate: the Senate has the power to ①introduced legislation on any subject except revenue bills (除了税收法案). It has the authority to ②confirm or reject predidential appointments(总统任命) of high officials as well as the U.S. foreign treaties. ③Its chairman is the Vice President.

参议院权利：1立法除税收。还有一些特殊权利：2批准或否决总统任命的高级官员及外交条约；领导人是副总统。

7)The judicial system has evolved into the present structure: According to the Constitution, the judicial power of the U.S shall be vested in one Supreme Court. The judicial system has evolved into the present structure: the Supreme Court, 11 court of appeals, 91 district courts, and 3 courts of special jurisdiction. U.S.judges are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.

根据宪法规定，美国的司法权属于最高法院，司法体系结构为：最高法院，11个上诉法院，91个地方法院，3个有特殊司法权的法院，美国的法官是由总统任命并由参议院批准的。

8)The two-party system and the characteristics of the two major parties

①the two-party system:the two party system means that the two major political parties — now the Democrats and the Republicans — compete with each other to dominate politics at the federal, state, and local levels.

两党制意味着两个主要的政党—目前为民主党和共和党—支配着联邦、州及地方的政治舞台。

②the characteristics of the two major parties:The two major parties are not very different today. They are two coalitions of interests and interest groups(利益集团的联合). There is no strict party discipline(党纪). One does not have to apply or go through necessary formalities to become a member of either party. But there are some differences between them. The Democrats traditionally favour government intervention (主张政府干涉经济)while the Republicans stress the role of the market (市场作用)more. On social issue the Democrats support a strong social security system (社会安全保障体制) while the Republicans oppose large governmental social security programs. In spite of these differenes, the two parties both believe in individualism, defend capitalism and uphold private ownership of means of production(坚持生产资料私有制) .

两个主要政党今天并没有实质区别。他们是利益集团的联合。没有严格的党纪。要想成为某党成员，不需要申请或办理必要的手续。但他们有所不同。民主党主张政府干涉，共和党则强调市场作用。在社会问题上，民主党支持建立强大的社会保障体系，而共和党反对大规模的政府社会保障计划。尽管存在这些区别，两党都信仰个人主义，保护资本主义制度，维护生产资料私有制。