新西兰英语 732 Census

 　　Tuesday, March 5th, 2013 is census¹ day. This is the day we count the people in our country. We fill in our census forms on March 5th. You should receive your forms soon. Every family will receive one form for each person and one for the dwelling². It is compulsory³ to fill in your form and return it to Statistics⁴ New Zealand. You can do this on the internet or someone will collect your form.

　　Your personal form asks your name, address, age, sex, marital⁵ status, ethnicity and whether you have a disability. If there is a child in the family who is too young to read and write, someone else in the family must do this instead. If you have a visitor staying with you on March 5th, you need a form for that person too.

　　The dwelling form asks where you live, how many rooms are in the dwelling, how many people live in the dwelling and whether you own or rent the dwelling. Only one person in the family fills in that form.

　　New Zealand has a census once every 5 years. Our last census was scheduled for March 2011 but because of the earthquake in February in Christchurch, it was cancelled at that time.

　　This census will cost $72m which is less than usual because a lot of the preparation was done in 2011.

　　The information from the census is used by businesses, schools, health departments and government. The information you give is confidential⁶ and no organisation⁷ such as Immigration⁸ or the Police can ask for information about you.

　　Listen to February 24th 2011 to hear more about the census.

　　Vocabulary

　　?fill in (British Eng), fill out (Am) – we use both Brit and Am.

　　?dwelling – the place you live e.g. house, flat

　　?compulsory – everyone must do this, by law

　　?marital status – married or single

　　?ethnicity – e.g. Maori, Chinese

　　?disability – e.g. cannot walk, see, hear etc

　　?scheduled – planned

　　?cancelled – did not happen

　　?confidential – only Stats NZ sees the information and they cannot tell anyone.

　　Question

　　In your country, how often is the census? Is it every 5 years?

1 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。

2 dwelling   

n.住宅，住所，寓所

参考例句：

• Those two men are dwelling with us.那两个人跟我们住在一起。
• He occupies a three-story dwelling place on the Park Street.他在派克街上有一幢3层楼的寓所。

3 compulsory   

n.强制的，必修的；规定的，义务的

参考例句：

• Is English a compulsory subject?英语是必修课吗？
• Compulsory schooling ends at sixteen.义务教育至16岁为止。

4 statistics   

n.统计，统计数字，统计学

参考例句：

• We have statistics for the last year.我们有去年的统计资料。
• Statistics is taught in many colleges.许多大学都教授统计学。

5 marital   

adj.婚姻的，夫妻的

参考例句：

• Her son had no marital problems.她的儿子没有婚姻问题。
• I regret getting involved with my daughter's marital problems;all its done is to bring trouble about my ears.我后悔干涉我女儿的婚姻问题, 现在我所做的一切将给我带来无穷的烦恼。

6 confidential   

adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的

参考例句：

• He refused to allow his secretary to handle confidential letters.他不让秘书处理机密文件。
• We have a confidential exchange of views.我们推心置腹地交换意见。

7 organisation   

n.组织，安排，团体，有机休

参考例句：

• The method of his organisation work is worth commending.他的组织工作的方法值得称道。
• His application for membership of the organisation was rejected.他想要加入该组织的申请遭到了拒绝。

8 immigration   

n.外来的移民，移居入境

参考例句：

• The government has decided to tighten its immigration policy.政府决定实施更加严格的移民政策。
• Do British immigration laws conflict with any international laws?英国的移民法与国际法有抵触吗？