Three companies want to build big dairy farms in the centre of the South Island called the Mackenzie Country. This is a beautiful part of New Zealand with lakes and mountains. It is near Mt Cook, Lake Tekapo, Lake Pukaki and Lake Ohau. If you drive t

发表于:2019-01-04 / 阅读(65) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

Monday 19th January is Anniversary Day for Wellington and Southland. Each province has an Anniversary Day holiday to remember the day that the first Europeans arrived there to settle and live there. In Southland, the Anniversary is a celebration of w

发表于:2019-01-27 / 阅读(48) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

Auckland Grammar School, which is a state boys high school, has decided that NCEA does not suit their boys. NCEA means National Certificate in Educational Achievement. In Year 11, students do Level 1 NCEA, in Year 12 they do Level 2, and in Year 13 t

发表于:2019-01-27 / 阅读(62) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

The government said that work on the first seven cycle tracks which were promised earlier this year will start in the summer. This will cost $9 million. Another $41 million will be spent later. Together these cycle tracks will be called The Great Rid

发表于:2019-01-27 / 阅读(133) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

This week, a major finance company, Hanover Finance, announced it is in trouble. They have decided to freeze all investor funds. This means that people who have invested money in their company cannot take it out again at the moment. The company hopes

发表于:2019-01-27 / 阅读(94) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

It is not just the American Presidential elections in early November. Four days after the Americans have chosen their new President, we will vote but we cannot choose our leader. We can only vote for one person in our local area, our electorate, and

发表于:2019-01-27 / 阅读(86) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

This is ANZAC day, a day that New Zealanders and Australians remember all those soldiers who died in wars in the last century. ANZAC means Australia New Zealand Army Corps and it was the name the Australian and New Zealand soldiers gave to their grou

发表于:2019-01-27 / 阅读(89) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

This news item is about co-habitation, couples who live together without being married. Our newspapers reported this week on the National Marriage Project report from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, in the United States. Why are we inter

发表于:2019-01-27 / 阅读(45) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

The Beijing Olympics ended on the same high note as it began. The opening and closing ceremonies were amazing, finishing with a large display of fireworks that went on and on. During the Games, everything worked well too. That included the accommodat

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

On Friday, Winston Peters, leader of the New Zealand First Party, announced that he was stepping down from his job as Minister. He said this is a temporary move because the Serious Fraud Office is checking on money that some people said they gave him

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

There has been a great deal of discussion and controversy about funding the drug Herceptin for women suffering from breast cancer. It is a very expensive drug made by the Roche company. Pharmac is the organisation which buys drugs and provides them f

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

Financial problems in the US have been going from bad to worse. Last week the US Government took over the mortgage investment companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. On Monday this week, Lehman Brothers, the 4th biggest investment bank, went bankrupt.

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

The New Zealand dairy company, Fonterra, which has a 43% share in the Chinese SanLu dairy factory, is donating $8.4 million to charity in China. SanLu baby milk formula was contaminated with melamine. Other baby milk formula has also been contaminate

发表于:2019-01-27 / 阅读(62) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

Last Monday, Helen Clark talked to the students at Otago University and promised that the Labour government would pay all university students an allowance in the future. It would happen over the next four years. In the past, students at university re

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

Barack Obama has become the first black president of the United States beating John McCain who conceded just over five hours after the first polls closed. Speaking in Chicago to a crowd of more than 100,000 people, Mr. Obama said, Change has come to

发表于:2019-01-27 / 阅读(53) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

After talks with John Key, the co-leaders of the Maori Party, Tariana Turia and Pita Sharples, have agreed to hold many hui (meetings) throughout New Zealand. It is likely that John Key has offered the Maori Party a chance for one or two of their mem

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

The slowing global economy has affected tourism in New Zealand with tourist numbers falling this year. There were 11,100 fewer international visitors to New Zealand in September 2008 compared with September 2007. Visitor numbers are down across most

发表于:2019-01-27 / 阅读(44) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

Five Kiwis and two German pilots were killed in a plane crash off the coast of France. The plane, an Airbus A320, was on a test flight after maintenance in France. The plane was only three years old. It had flown 2800 flights and a total of around 70

发表于:2019-01-27 / 阅读(60) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

Google launched the New Zealand edition of its Street View software this week. Street View is found on Google maps and is free to use. By typing in an address or dragging a small man on the screen, anyone with an Internet connection has a 360-degree,

发表于:2019-01-27 / 阅读(66) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

Late on Saturday night, a taxi driver was stabbed to death in Christchurch. The driver was originally from Afghanistan and arrived in New Zealand as a refugee. In August 2001, he was on a boat from Malaysia, along with other Afghani people, hoping to

发表于:2019-01-27 / 阅读(60) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语