新西蘭英語 291 Queen’s Birthday Honours

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Today, we learnt that one woman is now a Dame and six men are Sir. Many other people will receive medals for community work. The award is not given for their paid job but for the voluntary work they have done. For more about the Honour awards, listen to March 8th 2009 and June 1st 2009

Dame June Jackson received her honour for many years of service to Maori, especially young Maori in prison.

Sir Richard Taylor is well known for Weta Workshops which made many characters for the Lord of the Rings and other films by Peter Jackson. He likes to spend his spare time teaching young people to be creative.

Sir Peter Leith is well known because he owns the Mad Butcher chain of shops but he has also done a lot of voluntary work for Rugby League and many other organisations.

Sir Fred Allen was an All Black captain and coach and served in the Second World War.

Sir David Levene has done many things for the community including setting up a mentoring scheme for Year 12 and Year 13 school students to encourage them to aim for a university education. Sir John Williams is a judge but is also involved in community work. Sir Bruce Douglas has given money for equipment for Starship Hospital and for medical research.

Giving people honours or medals for their service is one way for the people of New Zealand to say “Thank you”.

Questions

Do you think that the government was right to bring back the titles of Dame and Sir?

How would you feel if you were suddenly called “Dame” somebody or “Sir” somebody? Would you feel embarrassed?

It is interesting that more men than women received the highest honour. Is there a reason for this?