新西兰英语 813 Names for North and South Islands

The Geographic Board wants New Zealanders to choose whether to use a Maori or an English name for the North and South Islands. The Board has recommended this to the Land Information Minister, Maurice Williamson. It is now his decision. If he agrees,

新西兰英语 753 New Zealander of the Year

On Thursday evening, Dame Anne Salmond was named New Zealander of the Year, at a ceremony in Auckland. Dame Anne has won many awards for her books. She is a sponsor of a project to encourage low income children, especially Maori and Pacific Islanders

新西兰英语 788 Matariki

Matariki is the Maori New Year. Just before dawn this morning, the seven stars of the Pleiades which Maori call Matariki, appeared in the sky. Some Maori iwi celebrate Matariki after the next full moon or at the next new moon. For Maori, it was a tim

新西兰英语 791 Tuhoe Treaty Settlement

Today the Crown which means the government signed a treaty settlement with the Tuhoe people for $1.7m. This is the third biggest treaty settlement. The Tuhoe land is in the Urewera area which includes the National Park, Lake Waikaremoana. The area is

新西兰英语 737 Waitangi

If you do not already know about Waitangi Day, listen to previous podcasts: February 5th 2012 and February 6th 2011. Waitangi is in the Bay of Islands. It is just a short walk from the town of Paihia and across the harbour from Russell. There is a sh

新西兰英语 622 Matariki

Today is the beginning of Matariki, the Maori New Year. It is the time of year when the group of stars, The Pleiades, first appears in the sky. When the new moon appears after this, it is the time to celebrate Matariki. It has two meanings: Mata Riki

新西兰英语 604 Smokers help the economy

The cost of cigarettes has increased by 40% since 2010. The cost will increase by $1 a year for the next four years to $20 a packet of 20 cigarettes. Will this make smokers quit smoking? Probably not, says a Treasury report, because smoking is addict

新西兰英语 70 MMP

MMP may be responsible for a delay in deciding whether National or Labour gets to form the new government. With 120 seats in parliament, the winning party needs 61 to have a majority. After the last elections, Labour had 50 seats while National had 4

新西兰英语 463 TVNZ no longer has a charter

In 2003, the Labour government voted for a charter for TVNZ. In return for $15m a year, TVNZ had to provide programmes which showed New Zealand culture and way of life. The charter gave a list of things that TVNZ had to do. It had to show Maori cultu

新西兰英语 288 50 YEARS OF TELEVISION

50 years ago this week, television was introduced to New Zealand. Then there was only one channel available, in black and white, and New Zealanders with tv sets had to pay the government an annual licence fee of ￡4. There have been many changes sin

新西兰英语 422 The beach and the sea

The Marine and Coastal Area Bill passed its third reading in Parliament today. Next the Governor-General has to sign it. Then it becomes the Marine and Coastal Act and is the law. The voting in Parliament was 63 to 56. The Maori Party joined the Nati

新西兰英语 381 Growing Up in New Zealand

This month we saw some early results from a study of small children. The full report is at Growing Up in NZ About 7,000 children, born between April 2009 and March 2010, are in the study. They live in Waikato, or a particular area in Auckland. This i

新西兰英语 291 Queen’s Birthday Honours

Today, we learnt that one woman is now a Dame and six men are Sir. Many other people will receive medals for community work. The award is not given for their paid job but for the voluntary work they have done. For more about the Honour awards, listen

原版英语对话1000个:286 The Kiwi

Todd: OK, Leonard, now, when most people think of Kiwi, at least Americans, we think of the fruit. Leo: Right, right. Also in Japan as well. Todd: Oh, really! OK. But, uh, people from New Zealand are called Kiwis not because of the fruit I take it. L

新西兰英语 517 Voting in the election

Only 73% of registered voters chose to vote on Saturday. This is the lowest percentage since 1887. 3,053,705 people are registered to vote but only 2.2m people voted. Although it is too early to know all the details, it seems that young people are no

新西兰英语 521 Minor Political Parties

Dont forget to vote next Saturday if you are eligible to vote. Did you receive your voting package last week? The envelope contains a list of all parties and candidates as well as your voting card which you take to the polling booth. Are the minor po

新西兰英语 201 Rugby World Cup on TV again

There has been another surprise change to which TV channel will show the Rugby World Cup in 2011. Now TVNZ, TV3 and Maori TV will all share in filming and showing the games. Maori TV will be the main channel but other channels will also have a share

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

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 433 Hone Harawira resigns from Parliament

The last few weeks have been difficult for the Maori Party. Hone Harawira has been the Maori Party MP for Te Tai Tokerau in the Far North of the North Island since the elections in 2005. However, he has not always agreed with the Maori Party and fina