新西兰英语 20 Who Owns Auckland Airport?

　　Who owns New Zealand railways, telephone services, electricity, city buses, airports, shipping¹ ports and Air New Zealand? Some of these were owned by the government or local councils. Some were sold to private companies in the 1980s during the time of the Labour government. This was called the sale of state assets². These assets were businesses that provided a service to New Zealanders. NZ Rail, which also operated the ferries between the North and South Islands, was sold to a private company. Many train lines have closed in the last 20 years. The government now wants to buy back the railways. Telephone services were sold to Telecom. Air New Zealand was a private company but when it had financial troubles, the government decided³ to buy it back. Most city bus services, airports and sea ports are run by local councils.
Auckland Airport is a public company. About half of the shares are owned by Auckland councils and the rest by people who have bought shares in the company. Last year, a Dubai government company wanted to buy more than 50% of the shares which means that they could control the company. However, the councils and others refused to sell their shares. This year, the Canadian Pension Plan wanted 40% of the shares but this time the government would not allow this to happen. The Minister of Finance⁴, on the weekend, said that Auckland airport is too important to New Zealand people and must not be sold to foreign interests.
It was interesting that it was a Labour government which sold many of the state assets in the 1980s but it is now a Labour government that says it will not sell state assets again. Usually it is a National government that believes in private ownership but John Key, a few days ago, said that if they are elected in November, they promise not to sell any state assets during their first term of three years.

1 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

2 assets   

n.财产；资产

参考例句：

• We capitalized our assets to avoid bankruptcy.我们把资产转作资金以避免破产。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 finance   

n.财务管理，财政，金融，财源，资金

参考例句：

• She is an expert in finance.她是一名财政专家。
• A finance house made a bid to buy up the entire company.一家信贷公司出价买下了整个公司。