新西兰英语 393 Auckland Grammar School and NCEA

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

新西兰英语 179 Seven New Cycle Tracks

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

新西兰英语 43 Money Matters

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

新西兰英语 64 Small Political Parties

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

新西兰英语 23 ANZAC Day (April 25th)

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

新西兰英语 35 Living Together

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

新西兰英语 52 End of the Beijing Olympics

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

新西兰英语 53 Winston Peters

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

新西兰英语 47 The Drug Herceptin

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

新西兰英语 59 Global Financial Problems

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.

新西兰英语 66 Fonterra Donates to Chinese Charity

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

新西兰英语 68 Labour Promises Student Allowances

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

新西兰英语 73 Barack Obama

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

新西兰英语 75 Maori Party Holds Hui

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

新西兰英语 76 Tourism in New Zealand

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

新西兰英语 82 Air NZ plane crash

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

新西兰英语 85 Google Street View

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,

新西兰英语 86 Taxi Driver Killed

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

新西兰英语 106 Parliament in Session

Parliament began again yesterday after the Christmas break. Two important matters made the news today from Parliament. The first matter was to put more money into the economy and provide jobs. The government is putting $500,000 in to economy for majo

新西兰英语 120 Hope for paralysed people

Doctors from Otago University are planning an operation to help people who are paralysed. They plan to take nerve cells from the patients nose and put those cells into the patients spinal cord. They hope that the new nerve cells will make the old ner