新西兰英语 211 MPs travel spending

　　MPs get money to travel around New Zealand and overseas¹ on important business. However, if they take their family overseas and expect the taxpayer² to pay, this can cause trouble. Two MPs are in trouble for this. The first one, Rodney Hide, from the ACT party is the Minister of Local Government. He travelled to the UK and North America to find out about government of big cities because Auckland³ will become a Super City next November. The taxpayer pays for MPs to go on trips like this. However he took his girlfriend with him. He also took her on a holiday to Hawaii. He has now apologised and has paid back the money for her trips.
The second MP in trouble is Hone Harawira from the Maori Party. He was the leader of a group of MPs going to a meeting in Belgium. During the meeting time, he and his wife visited Paris to go sight-seeing. He has not yet apologised for using taxpayer money for sightseeing although he might apologise⁴ tomorrow. The Maori Party are not pleased with him. The Prime⁵ Minister, John Key is not happy either.
When John Key took his family to the US recently when he went to the United⁶ Nations meeting, but he paid for his wife and children from his own money.

1 overseas   

adj.海外的；adv.在海外

参考例句：

• Her man has been sent overseas by his employers.她的丈夫已被雇主派往海外。
• Many firms are focusing on increasing their markets overseas.许多商行都专注于扩大国外市场。

2 taxpayer   

n.纳税人

参考例句：

• The new scheme will run off with a lot of the taxpayer's money.这项新计划将用去纳税人许多钱。
• The taxpayer are unfavourably disposed towards the recent tax increase.纳税者对最近的增加税收十分反感。

3 Auckland   

n.奥克兰(新西兰港市)

参考例句：

• Auckland is the largest city in New Zealand.奥克兰是新西兰最大的城市。
• Return to auckland by bus in afternoon.下午乘车返回奥克兰。

4 apologise   

vi.(=apologize）道歉

参考例句：

• You forgot to apologise.你忘记道歉了。
• I must apologise that if I offended you I didn't mean to.我必须向您道歉，如果冒犯了您，我不是有意的。

5 prime   

adj.首要的，主要的；最好的，第一流的

参考例句：

• The prime minister spoke of the general insecurity in the country.总理谈到了全国普遍存在的不安全。
• He met with the Prime Minister of Japan for an hour.他和日本首相会见了一个小时。

6 united   

adj.和谐的；团结的；联合的，统一的

参考例句：

• The whole nation is closely united.全国人民紧密团结。
• The two men were united by community of interests.共同的利益使两个人结合在一起。