Dairy farmers are having a tough time during the recession because of the high Kiwi dollar. Last year, the dairy company Fonterra paid farmers more than $7 for a kilo of milk solids. This year they will probably get $5.20. They will know next month h

发表于:2018-12-05 / 阅读(54) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

Tomorrow is New Years Eve. At midnight, many people celebrate the New Year with friends. Many towns and cities have a free outdoor concert. At one minute to midnight there is a count down from 60 seconds to 1 second then everyone shouts Happy New Yea

发表于:2018-12-31 / 阅读(104) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

Last week was the final session for Parliament before the elections on November 8th. During the session last week, MPs who were retiring gave their farewell speeches. One well-known National MP, Katherine Rich, decided to retire from Parliament as sh

发表于:2018-12-31 / 阅读(53) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

While the Iceland volcano has brought flights to and from parts of Europe to a stop, even New Zealand is affected. First, AirNZ has cancelled all flights to Los Angeles, Shanghai and Vancouver because these flights continue to the UK. AirNZ flies to

发表于:2019-01-26 / 阅读(66) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

Today is Waitangi Day. It is 170 years since the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. This was a treaty between Queen Victoria of England and Maori chiefs in New Zealand. The Queen promised to give Maori all the rights of British citizens and to protec

发表于:2019-01-27 / 阅读(99) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

Fonterra is the biggest company in New Zealand and also the biggest export dairy company in the world. It is a co-operative which means that farmers own it. In fact, 10, 500 dairy farmers in New Zealand own Fonterra. Each farmer has one share for eac

发表于:2019-01-27 / 阅读(130) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

The government announced today some changes to building which might help to make houses cheaper. House prices have risen sharply in recent years, making it hard for young people to buy their own house. Mortgage rates have gone up too. It has been a l

发表于:2019-01-27 / 阅读(57) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

A month ago, senior doctors in New Zealand hospitals said they would go on strike at the end of March to get more pay. It now looks as though they will not go on strike after all. The Minister of Health, David Cunliffe, has worked hard in the last mo

发表于:2019-01-27 / 阅读(79) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

We all know about price rises in the last few months. Petrol continues to increase, mostly because of the price of a barrel of oil on the international market. Mortgage interest rates have been increasing for some time although last week there was a

发表于:2019-01-27 / 阅读(56) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

Do you think talking on a cell phone while driving is dangerous? What about texting or reading text messages while driving? It is amazing that some people do that but its true. Last year, a driver who was texting killed two teenage sisters and this y

发表于:2019-01-27 / 阅读(65) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

Today, the Minister of Finance, Dr Michael Cullen, announced his budget. Every year, at about the same time of year, the Minister of Finance announces a budget which tells us how the Government plans to spend our tax money in the next year and in the

发表于:2019-01-27 / 阅读(61) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

A report to the government suggested that New Zealand could allow parents to choose the sex of their children who are born using IVF (in-vitro fertilisation). This is a process where the egg from the woman is fertilised by sperm from the man outside

发表于:2019-01-27 / 阅读(57) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

Saturday was a golden day for New Zealand at the Beijing Olympics. New Zealanders won two gold medals, a silver and two bronze medals. The first medal was won by the rowing twins, Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell. This is their second Olympics go

发表于:2019-01-27 / 阅读(84) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

The Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) could become law later this week or early next week. This scheme is a plan to cut greenhouse gases by making businesses pay for their carbon dioxide emissions, that is the CO2 which they put into the air. There will

发表于:2019-01-27 / 阅读(84) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

The National Party held their annual conference this weekend in Wellington. This was an important conference because it was their last one before the elections in November. The National Party had not said very much about their policies before this we

发表于:2019-01-27 / 阅读(58) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

On Monday, the present government had to open the books before the election to show how much money the country has. Just as we expected, it was bad news. Last year the books showed the government had more money than expected but things are very diffe

发表于:2019-01-27 / 阅读(59) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

The economy continues to be a major concern globally but also to New Zealand. We are especially affected by what happens in Australia, partly because our major banks are Australian owned. In the last few days, the US and European countries have moved

发表于:2019-01-27 / 阅读(78) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

New Zealand inflation is up by 5% for the year ending September 30th. This is the highest increase for 18 years, but Australia is reporting the same increase. The Governor of the New Zealand Reserve Bank has to keep inflation between 1% and 3% so thi

发表于:2019-01-27 / 阅读(99) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

The forestry industry in New Zealand is in trouble. Forestry has always been one of our major export industries but in recent years, it has been declining. Nineteen sawmills closed this year, two in the last month. New plantings of trees reached the

发表于:2019-01-27 / 阅读(90) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

A southerly blast swept through the south of New Zealand yesterday, bringing snow, sleet, hail and freezing temperatures. Southland had the worst of the front as it headed north, with up to 30cm of snow in Fiordland, 15cm in inland Southland and up t

发表于:2019-01-27 / 阅读(68) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语