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(64) / 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(54) / 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(62) / 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(58) / 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(55) / 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(51) / 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(54) / 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(39) / 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(57) / 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(63) / 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(56) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

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

发表于:2019-01-31 / 阅读(62) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

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

发表于:2019-02-02 / 阅读(52) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

The Auckland Art Gallery announced today that they will receive a very generous gift of 15 paintings. The gift is from Julian and Josie Robertson, an American couple who have spent some time in New Zealand for the last 30 years. They said they love N

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

Today is the shortest day and the longest night. In the Northern Hemisphere it is the Summer Solstice, when they have the longest day and the shortest night. In New Zealand, the sun rises around 8am on the shortest day and the sun sets at about 5pm.

发表于:2019-02-02 / 阅读(48) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

Talofa This week is Samoan Language Week. We need to remember that Samoan is the third most common language in New Zealand, after English and Maori. A large number of Samoan people live in New Zealand. We have a census every five years and the last c

发表于:2019-02-02 / 阅读(44) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

It has been raining for the last five or six days in Central Otago. The rivers are high. The rivers flow into four big lakes in that area: Lake Hawea, Lake Te Anau, Lake Manapouri and Lake Wakatipu. Queenstown is on the shores of Lake Wakatipu. Roads

发表于:2019-02-03 / 阅读(77) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

Tonight Parliament voted on New Zealands Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). The National Party, with the support of the Maori Party, had 63 votes while the Opposition Labour, the Greens and ACT had only 58 votes. Earlier this week, the government gave f

发表于:2019-02-03 / 阅读(44) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

The government is giving more money for maternity services. One reason for this is that more women are having babies at the moment and hospitals need more beds and more staff. Statistics New Zealand said the number of babies born in March this year i

发表于:2019-02-03 / 阅读(68) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语

Most New Zealanders will know about this tragedy which happened in Napier, a city on the East Coast of the North Island. It started on Thursday morning when three police officers arrived at a house to search for cannabis plants. Cannabis is a drug wh

发表于:2019-02-03 / 阅读(49) / 评论(0) 分类 新西兰英语