The Minister of Labour, Kate Wilkinson, has announced that there is going to be a review of the Holidays Act 2003 to see if any changes are needed. The review could mean that in the future, instead of taking a holiday, employees could ask for money i

发表于:2019-02-07 / 阅读(55) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

An exhibition of historic Antarctic photographs opened at Canterbury museum in Christchurch today. Some of the photos were taken during Captain Scotts journey to the South Pole 100 years ago while the other photos were of Shackletons expedition from

发表于:2019-02-07 / 阅读(68) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

Transpower yesterday got permission to build 185km of power lines from the Waikato River at Whakamaru near Lake Taupo, to Auckland. The lines will cross about 300 properties, mostly farms. Farmers have been protesting to stop these power lines for ma

发表于:2019-02-07 / 阅读(64) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

Two trampers died in the Tararua Forest Park during a snow storm at the weekend. They were 61 year old Dr Seddon Bennington, and 54 year old Marcella Jackson. Dr Bennington had been the CEO of Te Papa, the National Museum, for six years. Mrs Jackson

发表于:2019-02-07 / 阅读(108) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

Last night was the annual sports awards for the best sports man and woman for the year. Nominations included people from these sports: rowing, basketball, netball, cycling, sailing, surfing, cricket, rugby, football, Paralympics (for disabled people)

发表于:2019-02-08 / 阅读(59) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

From the first weekend in May until July, hunters in New Zealand are allowed to shoot ducks for sport. This is called the duck shooting season. Hunters have to get a licence and can kill only a limited number of ducks each day. There are only three t

发表于:2019-02-08 / 阅读(54) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

The bacterial disease, PSA, which affects gold kiwi fruit has spread. Now tests show that 13 orchards have the disease and more orchards are in quarantine, waiting for the results of tests. This is very serious for the kiwi fruit industry. The Zespri

发表于:2019-02-08 / 阅读(57) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

From today it is illegal to hold your cell phone and talk or text while driving. If you need to use a phone in the car, you must pull over to the side of the road and stop. You may instead use a hand-less phone which works when it hears your voice. T

发表于:2019-02-11 / 阅读(122) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

A terrorist threat to sports teams going to India is worrying players, our government and the Indian government. A group connected to al-Qaida warned sportsmen and women not to take part in the World Cup Hockey, the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricke

发表于:2019-02-11 / 阅读(49) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

The police said today that the Pike River Coal Mine will be closed and sealed perhaps forever and the bodies of the 29 miners will never be recovered. This is bad news for the families of those men. The reason for closing the mine is that it is too d

发表于:2019-02-13 / 阅读(53) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

New Zealanders are shocked at the disastrous fires in Australia. We now know that more than 100 people have died. The hospitals are filled with people who have burns; some have minor burns to the soles of their feet while others have major burns and

发表于:2019-02-17 / 阅读(56) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

At midday today, about 6,000 Maori and other supporters held a protest march in Queen St in Auckland, in the rain. The march was called a hikoi. The hikoi was organised by a young Maori man, Ngarimu Blair, who controlled the crowd to make sure that i

发表于:2019-02-17 / 阅读(59) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

Today Parliament introduced some laws which could stop boy racers from annoying other people. The problem is especially bad in Christchurch where the streets are flat. Friday and Saturday nights are their favourite times to drive fast around the city

发表于:2019-02-17 / 阅读(63) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

As expected, David Shearer of the Labour Party, won the Mt Albert by-election yesterday. He received 63% of the vote. This was 12,615 votes. Melissa Lee of the National Party received only 3,426, the Green Party candidate received 2,418 while the ACT

发表于:2019-02-17 / 阅读(49) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

Maybe you received a paper in your letter box about a referendum. This is telling you about a vote in August. It is not a vote for a person. It is a vote about a question and you vote by post. The question is: Should a smack as part of good parental

发表于:2019-02-17 / 阅读(78) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

Last week there were protests outside the Auckland womens tennis tournament. A small group of people were protesting against a 22-year old tennis player, Shahar Peer. She is from Israel and the protesters were supporters of Palestine. They wanted her

发表于:2019-02-17 / 阅读(46) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

Two hours after the 8.8 earthquake in Chile last night, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said that a tsunami had started. It hit parts of Chile and moved across the Pacific. The New Zealand Civil Defence and police moved quickly to send messages on

发表于:2019-02-18 / 阅读(70) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

A major earthquake 8.3 on the Richter scale followed by a tsunami, struck Samoa around 7am this morning. The tsunami hit the south coast of Samoa and destroyed holiday resorts and a new hospital as well as many homes. People ran to high hills but som

发表于:2019-02-18 / 阅读(43) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

June 20th is World Refugee Day, a day to remember refugees world wide who have had to leave their homes and may never return. A refugee is a person who has had to escape from their country because they could be imprisoned or killed for their beliefs.

发表于:2019-02-18 / 阅读(347) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

The winner of the Young Farmer of the Year Contest is Stuart McNaughton from the Tasman region. About 300 young men and women entered the contest earlier this year. Each region had one finalist. They each got good prizes. Then those seven finalists c

发表于:2019-02-18 / 阅读(51) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语