新西兰英语 75 Maori Party Holds Hui

　　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 members to be a Minister outside Cabinet¹. This means that they are not part of the government but will vote with the government when it is a matter of ‘confidence and supply’. ‘Supply’ refers to financial matters and ‘confidence’ refers to matters when the government needs enough votes to stay in power. This was the same arrangement that Labour had with the Greens and NZ First.
The National Party does not need the Maori Party if they have ACT and United Future but John Key wants to have the Maori people on his side. This is a little unusual because Maori have always supported Labour in the past. In fact, Phil Goff, the new leader of the Labour Party, warned the Maori Party that they will be sorry in the future if they support National.  However, so far the Maori at the hui seem to agree that this time they should support the new government. They probably hope that the National government will improve conditions for Maori especially in Education. We don’t know exactly what they have agreed to. We will have to wait until Sunday afternoon at the earliest, for John Key to announce his new Cabinet – that is the Ministers – and to tell us what agreements he has made with the minor² parties.
After John Key has announced his Cabinet, his new government will probably be sworn in early next week. This is urgent³ because John Key wishes to attend the APEC conference as the Prime⁴ Minister of New Zealand. He plans to leave next Thursday. He will take some other government members with him as well as a group of business people. It will be a chance to find out more about the global financial crisis⁵.

1 cabinet   

n.内阁，内阁会议；(带玻璃门存物品的)橱柜

参考例句：

• I keep my collection of old china in the cabinet.我把古瓷器收藏品存放在橱子里。
• He had held many important offices in the French cabinet.他在法国内阁中任过许多重要职务。

2 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

3 urgent   

a.紧急的，急迫的，紧要的

参考例句：

• He asked to see the manager for something urgent. 他有急事求见经理。
• A part of this urgent task was allotted to us. 这项紧急任务的一部分分给了我们。

4 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。

5 crisis   

n.危机，危急关头，决定性时刻，关键阶段

参考例句：

• He had proved that he could be relied on in a crisis.他已表明，在紧要关头他是可以信赖的。
• The topic today centers about the crisis in the Middle East.今天课题的中心是中东危机。