新西兰英语 531 New Year’s Honours

 　　The New Year’s Honours list was announced today. Twice a year, the Queen awards honours to people in the Commonwealth¹ countries. These people are those who have done something good for the country. Most of the honours go to people who have worked as volunteers in the community, for example for a sport, or for a cultural community like the Korean community. One of these honours is called a Queen Service Medal, QSM.

　　The highest award is The Order of New Zealand (ONZ). The Dunedin artist, Ralph Hotere, received this award. Four men became Sir. One of these men was the coach of the All Blacks: Graham Henry. He will be Sir Graham. Two women became Dame². One of these women was Suzie Moncrieff who started the World of Wearable Arts 24 years ago. She will be Dame Suzie.

　　In the UK, the Queen has a ceremony in Buckingham Palace to give the medals to each person who receives an honour but in New Zealand it is the Governor-General who does this at Government House. He is the Queen’s representative³ in New Zealand.

　　For more about the honours, listen to Queen’s Birthday Honours 2010 and December 31st 2009. For more about the World of Wearable Arts, listen to August 28th 2011. For more about the All Blacks and the Rugby World Cup, type “rugby” in the search box.

　　Vocabulary

　　announced – on the radio, TV and in the newspapers

　　honour – a public award

　　volunteer – someone who does some community work without pay

　　award – a prize

　　representative – he does the work of the Queen in New Zealand

　　Pronunciation – notice “an honour”; we use “an’ because the “h” is not pronounced. It is too hard to say “a honour”.

　　Apostrophe. Although it is correct to put the apostrophe before the “s” for New Year’s Honours, in practice you don’t need an apostrophe for things like days. You do need an apostrophe, however, to show possession⁴ by people or a person.

1 commonwealth   

n.共和国，联邦，共同体

参考例句：

• He is the chairman of the commonwealth of artists.他是艺术家协会的主席。
• Most of the members of the Commonwealth are nonwhite.英联邦的许多成员国不是白人国家。

2 dame   

n.女士

参考例句：

• The dame tell of her experience as a wife and mother.这位年长妇女讲了她作妻子和母亲的经验。
• If you stick around,you'll have to marry that dame.如果再逗留多一会，你就要跟那个夫人结婚。

3 representative   

n.代表，众议员，典型；adj.描写的，表现的，代理的，代表性的，代议制的，典型的

参考例句：

• He is a representative for a large steel company.他是一家大型钢铁公司的代理人。
• We have a representative sample.我们有一个代表性的样品。

4 possession   

n.拥有，具有，占有，控制；所有物，所有权，财产；着魔，着迷

参考例句：

• According to facts in my possession he can't possibly be guilty.根据我所掌握的事实，他是不可能有罪的。
• The land is in the possession of the merchant.这块地为该商人所有。