Religion
The most common religion in New Zealand is Christianity. The 'big three' denominations are Anglican (Church of England) with 25% of the population, Presbyterian with 18% and Roman Catholic with 16%. Many other denomina-tions also have followings, with Methodists, Baptists. Mor-mons, Brethren, Jehovah's Witnesses, Pentecostals, Assem-blies of God and Seventh Day Adventists all well repre-sented, along with various other faiths including Hindus, Jews, Muslims and Baha'is. The Ratana and Ringatu faiths, also with significant followings, are Maori adaptations of Christianity.
There are also a significant number of people (16.7%) who have no religion.
Education
New Zealanders place a high value on education, and vir-tually the entire population is literate. By law, education is mandatory and free for all children between the ages of six and 15; in fact most children enter school by the age of five, and many also have attended preschools before that, all subsidized by the state. Correspondence school is available for children who live in remote places.
New Zealand has seven universities, a number of teach-ers' colleges and polytechnics and one agricultural college. A new and growing facet of education in New Zealand is that it is gaining a reputation, especially in Asian countries, as a good place to learn English. There are numerous lan-guage schools throughout New Zealand (but most are in Auckland) and student visas are available which permit foreign students to study in New Zealand for up to foul' years.
Language
New Zealand has two official languages: English and Maori. English is the language that you usually hear spoken. The Maori language, long on the decline, is now making a comeback. You can use English to speak to anyone in New Zealand, as Maori people speak English. There are some occa-sions, though, when knowing a little Maori would be very useful, such as if you visit a mare, where often only Maori is spoken. It's also useful to know since many places in New Zealand have Maori names.
Holidays
People from the northern hemisphere never seem to be-come completely familiar with upside-down seasons. To them Christmas simply doesn't fall in the middle of summer and how is it possible to have mid-winter cold in August?
Public holiday's inc1ude:
January
New Year's Day and the next day (1st and 2nd)
February
Waitangi Day or New Zealand Day (6th)
March or April
Good Friday Easter Monday
April
Anzac Day (25th)
June
Queen's Birthday (1st Monday)
October
Labor Day (4th Monday)
December
Christmas Day and Boxing Day (25th & 26th)
Newspapers and Magazines
There is no national paper although the New Zealand Her-ald (Auckland), the Dominion (Wellington) and the Press (Christchurch) all have wide circulations. Backing up the city newspapers are numerous local dailies, same OK, some not. The closest to a national weekly news magazine is the Listener, an excellent publication which provides a weekly TV & radio guide, plus in-depth articles on the arts, social issues and politics. The international publications such as Time and Newsweek are available almost anywhere.
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Radio and TV
There are two national noncommercial radio stations and many regional 01' local commercial stations, broadcasting on the AM and FM banes.
There are three commercial TV stations (Channels One, Two & Three) plus Sky, a subscriber television service with news, sports, and movie and documentary channels.
Arts
New Zealand has a multi-faceted arts scene with both Maori and Pakeha engaged in all kinds of traditional and modern arts. Although there are distinct 'Maori arts' and 'Pakeha .arts', in fact there is rarely a division in who practices which arts. There are Pakeha people who enjoy carv-ing In bone and painting in traditionally Maori styles; Maori songs, poi dances, and a little bit of Maori language are taught In schools and all New Zealand children, regardless of background, learn them. Likewise, there are many Maori people who excel in the traditionally Pakeha arts - there are Maori in theatre, music and many European art forms. Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, a Maori, is one of the world's best known operatic divas, and there are many other examples.
New Zealand literature, especially, is an arena in which the Maori are making a strong mark - though the written word was not traditionally apart of Maori culture NZ is experiencing a movement of dynamic Maori writing in fiction, non-fiction, poetry and every other written form.
Maori Arts
Maori arts are dramatic in many ways, and they include various arts that people of European backgrounds might not be familiar with.
Traditionally the Maori did not keep a written history; their history was kept in long, very specific and stylized songs and chants. As in many parts of the world where oral history has been practiced, oratory, song and chant devel-oped to a magnificent art in Maori culture. The many rituals associated with Maori protocol are also quite stylized- if you ever visit a mare and are greeted with the traditional haka (war chant) and wero (challenge), you will appreciate how artistic they are. The Maori arts of song and dance in-clude so me special features such as the poi dance and action songs. Martial arts, using a variety of traditional weapons and movements, are highly stylized and developed
Other Maori arts inc1ude crafts such as wood, bone and jade carving, basketry and weaving, including a distinctive form of wall paneling known as tukutuku, which can be seen on mare and in Maori churches. Wood carvings, tuku-tuku wall panels and distinctive styles of painting (espe-cially on the rafters and ceilings) can be seen in most Maori meeting houses. These traditional Maori arts are not used only on the mare, though - wood and bone carving, paint-ing, basketry and various other arts are being used in both traditional and new ways, creating some vibrant artistic works.
Literature
New Zealand has an active literary scene, with a number of modem authors and a few old c1assics. Probably the most internationally known New Zealand writer is still Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923), who was born and raised in New Zealand and later moved to England, where she spent most of her short adult life and did most of her writing.
Frank Sargeson (1903-82) is another c1assic New Zea-land author. Within the country he is probably as well known as Mansfield, especially for his three-volume auto-biography, his novels and many short stories, but since he lived all his life in New Zealand, his work did not become as widely known internationally.
Maurice Shadbolt is the author of several fine historical novels a bout New Zealand - so far he' s published nine novels, foul' collections of short stories and several nonfic-tion books. His best known novel is probably The Season of the Jew, which won the NZ Wattie Book of the Year Award in 1987 and was chosen by the NY Times as one of the best books of that year. This book follows a dispossessed band of Maori who identify with the Jews of ancient Israel.
Janet Frame is another popular novelist, poet and short story writer. Her three-volume autobiography (To the 1s-land, An Angel at my Table and Envoy from Mirror City) was made famous by the film An Angel at my Table by ac-c1aimed local director, Jane Campion. Janet Frame: An Autobiography is a fascinating insight to her life, and her many works are widely available.
Shonagh Koea is another popular author; her better-known works include The Woman Who Never Went Home (1987), The Grandiflora Tree (1989), Staying Home and Being Rotten (1992) and Fifteen Rubies by Candlelight (1993).
Other favorite New Zealand authors include Maurice Gee, whose novel Going West won the NZ Wattie Book Award in 1993; Fiona Kidman (The Book of Secrets); Owen Marshall (Tomorrow We Save the Orphans); Philip Temple (Beak of the Moon); and Dame Ngaio Marsh (murder mys-teries).
Cinema
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The history of New Zealand film doesn't really begin until the late 1970s when generous tax breaks were introduced to encourage local production. From some early stumbling attempts, notable feature films have survived the test of time and launched the careers of New Zealand directors and actors.
Sleeping Dogs (1977) is an accomplished psychological drama that was at the forefront of the new film industry, and which launched the careers of actor Sam Neill and di-rector Roger Donaldson.
New Zealand films moved into art-house cinemas with Vincent Ward's Vigil (1984), a blooding film about a girl's coming of age in the rain-drenched back blocks of New Zealand. It proved too ponderously artistic for many Kiwi film-goers but wowed them at Cannes. Ward's follow-up The Navigator (1988) is a strange modern medieval hunt for the Holy Grail.
New Zealand's best known director, though Australian based and trained, is Jane Campion. Her greatest films explore New Zealand themes. An Angel at My Table (1990), based on Kiwi writer Janet Frame's autobiography, shows all the fine character development typical of her films Campion's masterpiece, The Piano (1993), about the trials of a mute woman in New Zealand's pioneer days, received Cannes and Academy A ward success. Suddenly the world noticed New Zealand's already accomplished movie Indus try. Once Were Warriors (1994), a brutal tale of modern. Urban Maori life, stunned movie-goers around the world. Heavenly Creatures, directed by Peter Jackson, also achieved critical acclaim. It is based on a famous case of matricide in the 1950s committed by two schoolgirls.
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Summary
New Zealand stretches 1600 km from north to south it con-sists of two large islands around which are scattered a num-ber of smaller islands, plus a few far-flung islands hundreds of km away. The North Island (115,000 sq km) and the South Island (151,000 sq km) are the two major land masses. A notable feature of New Zealand's geography is the country's great number of rivers. The Waikato River in the North Island is New Zealand's longest river, measuring in at 425 km. New Zealand also has a number of beautiful lakes; Lake Taupo is the largest and lakes Waikaremoana and Wanaka are two of the most beautiful. As is the case for most Pacific islands, New Zealand's native flora & fauna are, for the most part, not found anywhere else in the world. And, like other Pacific islands, NZ's native ecosystem has been dramatically affected and changed by plants and animals brought by settlers, mostly in the last 200 years.
Much of New Zealand's unique flora & fauna has sur-vived, but today over 150 native plants -10% of the total number of native species - and many native birds are threatened with extinction.
The governmental structure of New Zealand is modeled on the British parliamentary system, elections being based on universal adult suffrage. The minimum voting age is 18 and candidates are elected by secret ballot.
The New Zealand and Australian flags are very much alike. With the British flag in the top left-hand corner, the New Zealanders show the stars of the Southern Cross in red on a blue field. New Zealand's population of around 3,5 million people .
The most common religion in New Zealand is Christianity. New Zealanders place a high value on education, and vir-tually the entire population is literate. New Zealand has seven universities, a number of teach-ers' colleges and polytechnics and one agricultural college. New Zealand has two official languages: English and Maori.
New Zealand has a multi-faceted arts scene with both Maori and Pakeha engaged in all kinds of traditional and modern arts. Maori arts are dramatic in many ways, and they include various arts that people of European backgrounds might not be familiar with.
New Zealand has an active literary scene, with a number of modem authors and a few old classics. Probably the most internationally known New Zealand writer is still Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923).
Glossary
Articles статьи
Bay залив
Blackberries ежевика
Careers карьера
Channels каналы
Christianity христианство
Climate климат
Coastline береговая линия
Concentration концентрация
Conditions условия
Ecosystem экосистема
Elections выборы
Exodus массовое бегство
Fauna фауна
Film industry кинопроизводство
Film-goers кинолюбители
Flora флора
Geology геология
Gorse утесник обыкновенный
Harbor гавань
Immigrant's иммигранты
Islander's островитяне
Isolation изоляция
Land masses континентальный массив
Literate грамотный
Mammal's млекопитающие
Martial arts военные искусства
Masterpiece шедевр
Muslims мусульмане
Navigable судоходная
Noncommercial некоммерческий
Non-fiction научная литература
Novels романы
Paper бумага
Poetry поэзия
Polytechnics политехникум
Population население
Possum опоссум
Production производство
Referendum референдум
Reputation репутация
Rural сельский
Settler поселенец
Subsidized субсидирования
Suffrage избирательное право
Tale рассказ
Tax breaks налоговые льготы
Territorial территория
Voting age возрастной ценз
Wallaby's кенгуру-валаби
Bibliography
1. Spotlight on English-speaking countries N.Timanovskaya , изд. .Автограф, 1998.
2. Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture Pearson Educated Limited, 1998.
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