新西兰英语 458 Trade marks

When a company gives a name to a product this is a trademark. It means that no other company can use the same name. Recently two companies have been in the news, trying to protect the name of their product. One is Fonterra, the biggest dairy company

新西兰英语 457 Christchurch City without Insurance

Christchurch City Council has been unable to buy any insurance because of the risks of more earthquakes. From today, if there is another big earthquake which causes damage to underground pipes, there will be no insurance to repair them. The city has

新西兰英语 456 John Key in India

The Prime Minister, John Key, is visiting three cities in India this week, New Delhi, Agra and Mumbai. Yesterday he and his wife had a private visit to the Taj Mahal and today he met the Indian Prime Minister, Monmohan Singh. The main purpose of the

新西兰英语 455 Hone Harawira wins by-election

The result of the by-election in Te Tai Tokerau electorate yesterday was a win for Hone Harawira. Kelvin Davis, Labour, was second with 867 fewer votes than Hone. The Maori Party candidate was third. Hone says this is a win for the new Mana Party but

新西兰英语 454 Penguin swims to New Zealand

An Emperor Penguin managed to swim 4,000 km from Antarctica to New Zealand. A woman found the penguin on Peka Peka Beach about 40 km north of Wellington last Monday. The last time an Emperor Penguin was found in New Zealand was in 1967 on a beach in

新西兰英语 453 Government will buy 5000 Christchurch houses

The Prime Minister, John Key, said today that the government will buy 5000 houses that have been badly damaged after the earthquakes in Christchurch. This is because the land in those areas is not safe for houses. These houses are mostly beside the A

新西兰英语 452 The shortest day

Today is the shortest day of the year for the Southern Hemisphere. In New Zealand, we have nearly 9 hours of daylight today to be exact, 8 hours, 56 minutes and 24 seconds at latitude 43 degrees south. Tomorrow will be 3 seconds longer. Last night wa

新西兰英语 450 After-shocks continue in Christchurch

Christchurch had more small after-shocks today. Two of them were over 4.0 on the Richter scale. Yesterday three after-shocks were 4.4 or 4.5. Since the big earthquake on September 4th last year, the province of Canterbury has had 7350 after-shocks bu

新西兰英语 449 Earthquake affects Christchurch east suburbs

Suburbs in the east of Christchurch were very badly affected again after Mondays two earthquakes. Many houses lost underground services like water, power and sewerage and still today about 50,000 people have no water and cannot use their toilets. Som

新西兰英语 448 Chilean Volcano stops flights in New Zealand and Australia

On June 4th, a volcano in southern Chile erupted, sending volcanic ash into the air. The large particles of ash soon dropped to the ground but the small particles were carried, high in the air, by the westerly wind to Australia and New Zealand. This

新西兰英语 451 1080 Poison

Last week, the Department for the Environment made a report about using 1080 poison in the forests. The head of this department, Dr Jan Wright, studied the use of 1080 and decided that it was the best solution to the problem of animal pests. New Zeal

新西兰英语 465 Capital Gains Tax

The Labour Party said today that if elected in November, they would bring in a Capital Gains Tax CGT on profits from selling property. For many years now, house prices have been increasing fast. If a landlord buys a house for $200,000 then sells it f

新西兰英语 473 Emperor Penguin will leave New Zealand

First, listen to June 25th 2011 for background to this story. The Emperor Penguin found near Wellington six weeks ago is now well. He has been called Happy Feet which is the name of a dancing penguin in a movie. He was taken to Wellington zoo when he

新西兰英语 474 Kiwi dollar still high

The Kiwi dollar was 88.3 cents against the US dollar a few days ago but by 5pm today it had dropped to 83.7 cents. This is still too high for exporters. New Zealand exports dairy products, meat, wool, timber, fruit, wine and many other products which

新西兰英语 475 Zero alcohol for young drivers

From today, it is illegal for drivers under the age of 20 to drink any alcohol at all. Previously the limit was 30mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood. Now the law says teenagers may not drink at all if they are driving. If they break this law, they will

新西兰英语 476 Nancy Wake

Nancy Wake, born in New Zealand in 1912, died today in London aged 98. She was famous for the work she did for the French Resistance during the Second World War. She was a spy for the British and a fighter for freedom against the Nazis in France. She

新西兰英语 477 Steve Williams, golf caddie

Steve Williams is a New Zealander who was Tiger Woods caddie for 13 years until last month. Tiger fired Steve and got a new caddie. Steve got a new boss, an Australian Adam Scott. Adam Scott won the World Golf Championships at Bridgeston three days a

新西兰英语 482 Six months since Christchurch big earthquake

It is six months today since the February earthquake which killed 181 people. The city of Christchurch has changed completely in that time. The central city is still closed while buildings are demolished. 370 buildings have been demolished so far. An

新西兰英语 478 Hillary Ridge on Aoraki / Mt Cook

The South Ridge on Aoraki Mt Cook has been re-named Hillary Ridge. This is to honour Sir Edmund Hillary who was in the group of four climbers who were first to climb along that ridge to the top the mountain in 1948. It took them 7 hours. Aoraki Mt Co

新西兰英语 479 Death of Sir Paul Reeves

Sir Paul Reeves died after a short illness yesterday, aged 78. He was Governor-General of New Zealand from 1985 to 1990, the first Maori Governor-General. There will be a state funeral later this week to honour him. He was an unusual choice for Gover