新西兰英语 715 Warrant of Fitness changes

 　　Today the Associate Minister of Transport, Simon Bridges, announced changes to the Warrant of Fitness laws. These changes will happen next year.

　　At the moment, all cars which are less than 6 years old need a WoF (Warrant of Fitness) every 12 months. Older cars need a WoF every 6 months.

　　This will change. New cars will not need a WoF for the first 3 years. Cars which are between 4 and 12 years old will only need a WoF every 12 months. Older cars will need a WoF every 6 months.

　　A WoF is a safety check. It costs about $50. These things are checked: wipers, tyres, lights, door locks, seat belts, brakes, horn, steering¹, exhaust (to check it’s not too noisy), spare wheel and suspension. If you don’t have a WoF sticker on your car, you will get a $200 fine.

　　New Zealand has many older cars. This is the reason for frequent WoF checks.

　　Vocabulary

　　?announced – told the media e.g. radio, TV, newspapers

　　?wipers – used when it’s raining to clean the windscreen

　　?horn – makes a noise

　　?steering – makes the car go in the direction you want it to go

　　?exhaust – at the back of the car, burnt gas comes out the exhaust pipe

　　?suspension – springs which help to make your car go smoothly²

　　?frequent (adj) – often (adv)

1 steering   

n.操舵装置

参考例句：

• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration. 他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。
• Steering according to the wind, he also framed his words more amicably. 他真会看风使舵，口吻也马上变得温和了。

2 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。