新西兰英语 90 New Year

　　Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve. At midnight, many people celebrate the New Year with friends. Many towns and cities have a free outdoor concert. At one minute to midnight there is a count down from 60 seconds to 1 second then everyone shouts ‘Happy New Year’. It is common to kiss friends and to sing ‘Auld Lang Syne’ too. This is a Scottish¹ song about remembering friends. Some people make New Year’s Resolutions² which are promises they make to themselves to be better people – to lose weight, to stop smoking³, or some other good intention⁴. Traditionally⁵ people do not keep New Year’s Resolutions for very long!
Then the next two days are a holiday just like Christmas Day and Boxing Day. These are statutory holidays, written into the statutes⁶ or laws of this country. Other statutory holidays are Waitangi Day, Easter (Good Friday and Easter Monday), Queen’s Birthday, and Labour Day. If you have to work on a statutory holiday, your boss must pay you time and a half (which means⁷ 1.5 times your usual pay) as well as giving you another day off.
As well as statutory holidays, every worker has four weeks annual⁸ leave. Most people take this leave between the end of December and the end of January. Factories, businesses, offices and government departments are often closed until the middle of January although they usually have someone working to deal with emergencies.
Traditionally, Kiwi families start their summer holiday by leaving home on Boxing Day and driving to the beach. Some families go camping while others have a bach at a beach. A bach used to be an old house with just one or two bedrooms but these days some beach houses are modern and quite expensive. If you want to book a motel⁹ or a holiday house, you probably need to do this some months ahead.
Beach holidays are a time to be lazy, to swim, read, play beach cricket¹⁰, eat simple meals, make friends and do nothing much. Then it’s time to pack up, go home and go back to work.

1 Scottish   

adj.苏格兰(人)的；n.苏格兰(人)；苏格兰语

参考例句：

• My husband and I are scottish.我和我丈夫是苏格兰人。
• Scottish life in London centres round this spot.苏格兰人在伦敦的生活区集中在这一带。

2 resolutions   

n.决心( resolution的名词复数 )；解决；坚决；分解

参考例句：

• He's always making good resolutions but he never carries them out. 他决心经常下得很大，但从不实行。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• If she did all these things, maybe-maybe-Elizabeth's resolutions merged into fantasies. 她如果真按照这些做了，也许--也许--伊丽莎白的决心都溶在幻想之中。 来自辞典例句

3 smoking   

n.吸烟，抽烟；冒烟

参考例句：

• He was wise to give up smoking.他戒烟是明智的。
• He has decided to cut out smoking and drinking.他已决心戒烟、戒酒。

4 intention   

n.意图；目的；打算

参考例句：

• I'm sorry I offended you,but it wasn't my intention.对不起，冒犯你了，但我绝不是有意的。
• We understood her intention.我们明白了她的心意。

5 traditionally   

adv.传说地；传统地

参考例句：

• Traditionally,people clean the house before the Spring Festival.传统上，人们在春节前打扫房子。
• Medicine is traditionally the first of the Nobel prizes awarded each year.根据传统，医学奖是诺贝尔奖每年颁发的第一个奖项。

6 statutes   

成文法( statute的名词复数 )； 法令； 法规； 章程

参考例句：

• The numerous existing statutes are complicated and poorly coordinated. 目前繁多的法令既十分复杂又缺乏快调。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• Each agency is also restricted by the particular statutes governing its activities. 各个机构的行为也受具体法令限制。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

7 means   

n.方法，手段，折中点，物质财富

参考例句：

• That man used artful means to find out secrets.那人使用狡猾的手段获取机密。
• We must get it done by some means or other.我们总得想办法把它干完。

8 annual   

adj.每年的；一年的；（植物）一年生的 n.年刊；一年生植物

参考例句：

• It's an annual report.这是年度报告。
• The kind of plant is a hardy annual.这种植物是耐寒的一年生植物。

9 motel   

n.汽车游客旅馆

参考例句：

• Late that night he landed at a motel.那晚他到了一家汽车旅馆。
• The motel manager showed the guests to their room.汽车旅馆经理把旅客领到他们房间。

10 cricket   

n.蟋蟀，板球运动；adj.公平的

参考例句：

• The England cricket team scored quite a useful total.英格兰板球队得分总数令人满意。
• We could hear the shrill of the midsummer cricket.我们可以听到仲夏时节蟋蟀的尖叫声。
• Your behaviour isn't cricket.你的行为不光彩。