新西兰英语 499 Rugby World Cup

Probably everyone in New Zealand knows the Rugby World Cup starts tomorrow in Auckland. The first game is between the All Blacks and Tonga. The last time that the Rugby World Cup was held in New Zealand was in 1987. The last time the All Blacks won t

新西兰英语 498 Pay for working at night

Listen to February 18th 2011 to hear the background to this. In February this year, workers who care for intellectually disabled people, won their case for better night pay. The court said that they should be paid the minimum wage for sleeping at nig

新西兰英语 497 Rugby World Cup Crowds

A large crowd of people went to the harbour in Auckland on Friday evening to watch the celebrations and the fireworks. The Auckland City Council expected about 50,000 people but there were probably 200,000 crowded into a small space. This was unpleas

新西兰英语 495 Police drop charges against Tuhoe

In October 2007, 17 people were arrested on Tuhoe land in the Urewera district in the North Island. These people all belong to the Maori iwi Tuhoe or are supporters of the Tuhoe. The police believed they were training for terrorist activities against

新西兰英语 494 Godwits arrive

Once again the migratory birds, the Godwits are arriving in New Zealand from Alaska. They arrive in groups, usually the second or third week in September. Because of the earthquake damage to the Cathedral, Christchurch cannot ring the Cathedral bells

新西兰英语 493 Measles in Auckland

Many Auckland people have had measles in the last four months. The numbers are increasing and the Medical Officer of Health thinks we may have a measles epidemic. So far, in Auckland, doctors know of 164 people who have had measles in the last four m

新西兰英语 496 The Official Cash Rate stays the same

The Governor of the Reserve Bank, Dr Bollard, kept the OCR at 2.5% today. Dr Bollard said he kept it at the same rate because of financial problems in Europe. Also the slowdown in the US is a concern. In addition, the US will need to borrow more mone

新西兰英语 283 What is the Budget?

Tomorrow afternoon, the Minister of Finance, Bill English, will read the Budget in Parliament. The Budget tells us how much money the government expects to have next year and how the government plans to spend it. The Prime Minister has already talked

新西兰英语 313 Maori Language week

This is Maori language week, a time to think about the survival of the Maori language and to encourage more people to use it. Listen to more about the purpose of Maori language week: July 29 2009 About 18,000 people are fluent in Maori but the number

新西兰英语 173 Effects of the earthquake

Listen again to July 18th 2009 . The earthquake of July 16th caused only minor damage. One effect though, that scientists have learnt is that the southwest of the South Island has now moved 300mm closer to Australia. New Zealand, like Japan, sits on

新西兰英语 265 Selling apples to Australia

Ever since 1921, Australia has refused to buy apples from New Zealand because some New Zealand apples had a disease called fire blight. This disease is common in North America and Europe but Australia and Japan do not have it and do not want it. The

新西兰英语 292 Official Cash Rate Rise

The governor of the Reserve Bank, Alan Bollard, increased the official cash rate (OCR) from 2.5% to 2.75%. This is the first rise in three years. During the economic recession, Bollard reduced the OCR from 8.25% in July 2007 to 2.5% in April this yea

新西兰英语 101 School Starts for the Year

School starts again this week for most students. This is the start of the new school year. Children who turned five during the holidays will start school for the first time. Children starting a new school often feel nervous if they dont know anyone.

新西兰英语 312 New Zealand’s interest in Cambodian cou

Today, a United Nations court sitting in Cambodia, found one of Pol Pots leaders guilty of war crimes. The man called Duch was the chief of Khmer Rouges main prison, S-21, where around 16,000 people were tortured and then murdered. He was sentenced t

新西兰英语 211 MPs travel spending

MPs get money to travel around New Zealand and overseas on important business. However, if they take their family overseas and expect the taxpayer to pay, this can cause trouble. Two MPs are in trouble for this. The first one, Rodney Hide, from the A

新西兰英语 213 Hone Harawira in trouble

Hone Harawira will stay away from Parliament for the next two weeks and think about his future. The Maori Party met on Thursday and the leader, Whatarangi Winiata, suggested that Hone leave the Party. He should resign from Parliament or resign from t

新西兰英语 364 Pansy Wong Resigns as Minister

Pansy Wong has resigned as from her job as Cabinet Minister. She was Minister of Womens Affairs, and Minister of Ethnic Affairs. She resigned because her husband has been getting cheap international travel through her office for his business trips. M

新西兰英语 285 The drug P

A customs officer found the drug P (methamphetamine) in a tourists luggage last week at Auckland airport. Other members of the tour party were searched and a total of 8kg of P was found. Seven tourists were arrested and are now in prison, waiting for

新西兰英语 331 Earthquake hits Canterbury

A strong earthquake hit Canterbury just after 4.30 this morning. It was 7.1 on the Richter scale. This is about the same as the Haiti earthquake but very fortunately no one was killed. Two people are in hospital with serious injuries. The population

新西兰英语 380 15 year olds score well in reading

Each year, the OECD tests half a million 15-year old students in 70 countries in reading, mathematics and science. The results for 2009 were published this month. They showed students in Korea and Finland had the highest scores for reading literacy.