Today, the minimum wage has increased by 25c from $12.75 to $13 an hour. For young people who are still being trained for the job, their pay has increased by 20c from $10.20 to $10.40. At $13 an hour, this comes to $520 for a 40-hour week. The median

发表于:2018-12-05 / 阅读(75) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

During the last week, three major murder trials came to an end. The first one to end, last Wednesday, was a trial of an immigrant from Zimbabwe, George Gwase, for the murder of his niece, 10-year old Charlene, in Christchurch. He was found Not Guilty

发表于:2019-01-27 / 阅读(74) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

The agricultural company PGG Wrightson Ltd signed an agreement today with Silver Fern Farms Ltd for the two companies to join together. Silver Fern Farms is a meat processing company which kills farm animals for meat and sells the meat in NZ and over

发表于:2019-01-27 / 阅读(73) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

A Maori, Gerrard Otimi, has been arrested by the police for selling false visas to Pacific Island people. He offered to adopt them into his hapu, or tribe. They paid him $500 for this and he put a stamp in their passport which he said gave them a vis

发表于:2019-01-30 / 阅读(69) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

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

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

巴拿马地震修订为6.0级 NEW YORK, April 2 (Xinhua) -- The 5.8-magnitude earthquake which hit Panama earlier Wednesday has been revised to be 6.0 on the Richter scale, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The quake jolted 52 km south of Pedregal, P

发表于:2019-02-03 / 阅读(60) / 评论(0) 分类 英语新闻

On Thursday night, in Christchurch, two people were killed by a car which was being chased by a police car. Around 8pm, the police saw a car travelling at about 90kmh in a 50kmh zone. They followed the car. Thirty seconds later, the driver drove thro

发表于:2019-02-03 / 阅读(67) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

The Prime Minister, Mr Key, announced that a Maori flag was chosen for Waitangi Day. It will fly on the Auckland Harbour Bridge and Parliament along with the New Zealand flag. The Maori flag is black, red and white with a koru design. The koru is a y

发表于:2019-02-07 / 阅读(63) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

Tomorrow is ANZAC Day, a day when New Zealanders and Australians remember soldiers who died in Gallipoli on 25th April 1915. See April 25th 2008 . 1915 was during the First World War. ANZAC Day, however, is a day to remember all New Zealand soldiers

发表于:2019-02-17 / 阅读(77) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

秘鲁发生强烈地震 LIMA, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- The 6.9-magnitude earthquake that hit southern Peru on Wednesday has killed three people in the district of Chaparra, in Caraveli province of Arequipa department, local daily El Comercio reported on

发表于:2019-02-17 / 阅读(67) / 评论(0) 分类 英语新闻

In what has become a too-familiar experience in Tokyo, a crowded subway train screeches to a sudden halt. From around the car, mobile phones start to ring. The sound is an emergency earthquake warning from an iPhone app that lets subscribers know whe

发表于:2019-02-17 / 阅读(72) / 评论(0) 分类 实用英语

MEXICO CITY, April 21 (Xinhua) -- A 5.8-magnitude quake hit Mexico on Sunday evening, the Mexico's National Seismic Service (SSM) said. The SSM said the epicenter was 10 kilometers south of Lazaro Cardenas city in the state of Michoacan. The earthqua

发表于:2019-02-18 / 阅读(51) / 评论(0) 分类 英语新闻

Today was the beginning of New Zealand music month. Every May for the last 10 years, New Zealand has celebrated our own music. The Auckland band, Opshop, decided to do something different to celebrate 10 years of New Zealand Music month. They hired a

发表于:2019-02-18 / 阅读(177) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

On October 1st, GST will increase from 12.5% to 15%. This is a 2.2% increase. At the same time, we will have tax cuts on our pay. Benefits will also increase a little to help with the higher GST. Listen to May 20th 2010 for more about tax cuts and th

发表于:2019-02-18 / 阅读(64) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

The Big Day Out is a Rock Music Festival that lasts 12 hours, starting at 11am tomorrow. It is held once a year towards the end of January in Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland and then in some of the bigger cities in Australia. There are about 40 acts. Th

发表于:2019-02-18 / 阅读(64) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

NEW YORK, June 16 (Xinhua) -- An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale jolted Crete, Greece at 21:39:09 GMT on Sunday, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The epicenter, with a depth of 40.00 km, was initially determined to be at 34.5118 degrees

发表于:2019-02-18 / 阅读(56) / 评论(0) 分类 英语新闻

In April, the Law Commission gave the government a report on alcohol problems in New Zealand. The report recommended 152 changes. The government now has decided to accept 126 of these recommendations. The main changes affect young people under the ag

发表于:2019-02-18 / 阅读(57) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

HONG KONG, April.17 (Xinhua) -- An earthquake measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale jolted Kepulauan Mentawai region, Indonesia at 18:22:29 GMT on Tuesday, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The epicenter, with a depth of 27.80 km, was initially determine

发表于:2019-02-25 / 阅读(92) / 评论(0) 分类 英语新闻

BY Misbah Saba Malik, Raheela Nazir ISLAMABAD, April 16 (Xinhua) -- At least 35 people were killed, over 180 others injured and hundreds of houses collapsed when a strong earthquake of 7.9 magnitude jolted parts of southern and southwest Pakistan on

发表于:2019-02-25 / 阅读(108) / 评论(0) 分类 英语新闻

Listen first to yesterdays podcast, What is the Budget? There were only a few surprises in todays Budget. One was about tax cuts. All workers, the rich and the poor, will pay less income tax. People earning less than $14,000 a year will pay 10.5% inc

发表于:2019-02-26 / 阅读(158) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语