新西兰英语 362 Kiwi Fruit Disease

One kiwi fruit grower in the Bay of Plenty has discovered a disease in his orchard which has frightened all kiwi fruit growers in the area. Tests have shown that the disease is PSA although they dont yet know which type of PSA it is. This disease is

新西兰英语 225 Film and Music Piracy

This week the Commerce Minister has announced there will be a new law to fine people who download films and music from the internet without paying. Illegal downloading is called piracy. Downloading music illegally is a big problem for the recording i

新西兰英语 472 Back to school

Schools opened again today after two weeks holiday. For some high school students in Christchurch, it was back to their own school for the first time since the February earthquake. Many high schools have been sharing a school site, with the host scho

新西兰英语 171 Earthquake

The earthquake on Wednesday night surprisingly caused very little damage. It was a big earthquake, 7.8 on the Richter scale. This is the biggest earthquake recorded this year anywhere in the world. However, it was in a very isolated part of New Zeala

新西兰英语 255 Golden Shears Competition

Sheep shearing is a job but also a sport. The best shearers enter competitions to see who is the fastest and best. The Golden Shears is the final. The six best shearers compete in this final. They have 20 lambs each. Judges check that the shearer has

新西兰英语 327 Alcohol Laws

In April, the Law Commission gave the government a report on alcohol problems in New Zealand. The report recommended 152 changes. The government now has decided to accept 126 of these recommendations. The main changes affect young people under the ag

新西兰英语 191 Adventure tourism

NZ is well known for adventure tourism. These are the kinds of activities that young backpackers enjoy doing in our country. One of the first commercial adventures was bungy jumping but now there are many other activities. These include sky diving, p

新西兰英语 256 New Zealander arrested in Japan

When the anti-whaling ship, the Ady Gil, collided with the Japanese whaling ship the Shona Maru 2, the Ady Gil was badly damaged and later it sank. Listen to Jan 7th 2010 for more about this collision in the Antarctic. Three weeks ago, the New Zealan

新西兰英语 356 Earthquake Insurance Claims

Chris Ryan, Chief Executive of the New Zealand Insurance Council, said today that Canterbury earthquake claims will probably be more than $3bn. This will be the biggest payout in New Zealands history for any natural disaster. The second biggest payou

新西兰英语 326 Australian Elections

Although the Australian elections were held yesterday, there is no still no decision about which party won. Labor won about 72 seats and the Liberals won about 73. Some seats are still too close to know who won. There are 150 seats in the Federal par

新西兰英语 343 Local Body Elections

Who are those faces that we see in bill boards all around our town or city? These are people who want to represent you on the council, or community board, or hospital board. Every three years, we have a chance to vote for the people we want on these

新西兰英语 299 Australia’s new Prime Minister

On Thursday morning, Australians were surprised to find they had a new Prime Minister. She is Julia Gillard, Australias first woman Prime Minister. On Wednesday, Kevin Rudd was still PM of the Australian Labour government, a position he has held for

新西兰英语 407 Census

This week you will receive your census papers. You fill in these forms on March 8th. There is an individual form and a household form. One person in your house fills in the household form. The information is about the kind of house you live in, the n

新西兰英语 293 Ministers’ credit cards

Cabinet Ministers like the Minister for Foreign Affairs, or the Minister for Trade or the Minister for the Environment have to travel overseas as part of their job. They have a credit card to pay for expenses such as hotels, taxis and food. They are

新西兰英语 319 Company fined for false information

Yesterday the District Court in Christchurch fined a company for selling tourist products which looked like New Zealand products but were made in China. A Christchurch company, ProKiwi International, imported body care products from China but labeled

新西兰英语 95 Guilty plea from Outdoor Education Centre

On April 15th 2008, New Zealand experienced a terrible tragedy: 6 teenagers and a teacher died while on an outdoor education activity in the centre of the North Island. (See April 17th 2008 on this website.) They were canyoning in the Mangatepopo Gor

新西兰英语 352 Teachers on strike

High school teachers will start their rolling strikes on Wednesday when Year 9 students have to stay at home. On Thursday there will be no Year 11 classes and next week Year 10 students will have no classes on one day. To go on strike means that teac

新西兰英语 250 Philanthropy

A philanthropist is a person who helps others. Usually a philanthropist gives money although people who volunteer their time to help others are also philanthropists. New Zealand is lucky to have many volunteers, many people who give donations of mone

新西兰英语 405 Godwits leave New Zealand

Christchurch city is holding a ceremony tonight at 6.30pm to farewell the godwits. People are encouraged to come to the beach with their cameras to see the godwits leave. The day and time are chosen because of the tides at that time. Not all the godw

新西兰英语 317 Soldier dies in Afghanistan

A New Zealand soldier was killed today in Bamiyan province, Afghanistan. He was Lieutenant Tim ODonnell, aged 28. Two other New Zealand soldiers and an Afghan interpreter were also injured. He is the first New Zealand soldier to die in Afghanistan. 1