新西兰英语 471 Christchurch Design Challenge

More than 100 architects and other designers spent 48 hours designing a new Christchurch city. It was a team competition. Five zones in the central city were chosen. Each zone had three or four teams working on it. Each team had five or six people. T

新西兰英语 303 PM to visit China

The Prime Minister, John Key, will visit China from Wednesday until Saturday. This will be his second visit to China and shows that he believes relations between the two countries are very important. China is our second-largest trading country (Austr

新西兰英语 170 Death of Trampers

Two trampers died in the Tararua Forest Park during a snow storm at the weekend. They were 61 year old Dr Seddon Bennington, and 54 year old Marcella Jackson. Dr Bennington had been the CEO of Te Papa, the National Museum, for six years. Mrs Jackson

新西兰英语 254 KiwiRail

The Minister of Transport, Steven Joyce, said yesterday that some railway lines will probably be closed. The line between Napier and Gisborne, the northern Wairarapa line and the inland Taranaki line usually have just one train a week. It is possible

新西兰英语 199 Review of dog laws

There is likely to be a review of dog laws in New Zealand. Local Government Minister, Rodney Hide, believes there are too many laws for dog owners and the laws are too muddled. He thinks dog owners should have more freedom to enjoy their dogs. At the

新西兰英语 328 Laws for Adventure Tourism

The government said that there will be new safety laws for adventure tourism. Nearly two years ago, a British tourist, Emily Jordan, aged 21, died when she was river-boarding in Queenstown. She was trapped under a rock and drowned. The company which

新西兰英语 190 New Power Lines

Transpower yesterday got permission to build 185km of power lines from the Waikato River at Whakamaru near Lake Taupo, to Auckland. The lines will cross about 300 properties, mostly farms. Farmers have been protesting to stop these power lines for ma

新西兰英语 198 Flu medicines

The government is planning to take some Flu medicines off the shelves of chemist shops. Instead, people will have to go to their doctor and get a prescription if they want these medicines. The reason is that these medicines contain pseudoephedrine wh

新西兰英语 257 Rower crosses the Tasman

Yesterday, 25-year old Shaun Quincey arrived in New Zealand after rowing across the Tasman Sea from west to east. It took him 54 days. About 200 people were waiting on 90 Mile beach to welcome him around midday. He left Australia more than seven week

新西兰英语 134 Carbon Emissions

The Minister of Climate Change, Nick Smith, gave some strange information about our carbon emissions yesterday. (See September 23rd 2008 for information about the Emissions Trading Scheme.) Last year we put too much carbon into the atmosphere and wou

新西兰英语 357 World Rowing Championships

The World Rowing Championships started today at Lake Karapiro on the Waikato River. This is the first time in 32 years that New Zealand has held this event. 50 countries have sent teams to compete during the eight days of the championships. There are

新西兰英语 325 Historic Antarctic photos

An exhibition of historic Antarctic photographs opened at Canterbury museum in Christchurch today. Some of the photos were taken during Captain Scotts journey to the South Pole 100 years ago while the other photos were of Shackletons expedition from

新西兰英语 132 Easter Holidays

New Zealand workers have a holiday on Good Friday (yesterday) and Easter Monday. Easter is a Christian holiday to remember when Jesus Christ was killed on the cross and came back to life again. This is called the resurrection. Easter is a holy time a

新西兰英语 157 Review of Holidays Act 2003

The Minister of Labour, Kate Wilkinson, has announced that there is going to be a review of the Holidays Act 2003 to see if any changes are needed. The review could mean that in the future, instead of taking a holiday, employees could ask for money i

新西兰英语 382 Summer Holidays

The New Year began with concerts and fireworks in many places. It is mid summer in New Zealand at the moment, with long warm days. There are a number of music festivals, an international tennis tournament in Auckland, and the usual summer sport such

新西兰英语 342 The World of Wearable Arts – WOW

The World of Wearable Arts performances begin today in Wellington. There are 10 performances in the next 10 days, all sold out. The beginning of WOW the World of Wearable Arts is an interesting story. In 1987, Suzie Moncrieff, a Nelson artist and scu

新西兰英语 164 Embryo donation

During the weekend, 2 couples and their families invited the media newspapers, TV and radio to interview them about embryo donation. The first couple had two teenage boys and the second couple had a 3-month old baby girl. Couple 1s 16 year old son wa

新西兰英语 300 Smoking ban in prisons

The Corrections Minister, Judith Collins, says that smoking in prisons will be banned from July 2011. Prison will be safer because there will be no cigarettes, no lighters and no matches. At the moment, prisoners are allowed to smoke in their cells a

新西兰英语 371 Despair in Greymouth

Greymouth families who have lost their husbands, fathers, sons or brothers in the Pike River Coal mine, are facing more despair. It now seems unlikely that the bodies of the 29 miners will be recovered soon. Another explosion occurred yesterday and t

新西兰英语 406 Universities start this week

Universities begin classes this week. There are eight universities in New Zealand: the University of Auckland and the Auckland University of Technology are both in Auckland. Massey University has a campus in Auckland and in Palmerston North. Massey a