新西兰英语 205 Labour Day

　　Today is Labour Day. Most of us celebrate the day by enjoying a holiday. However, the reason for Labour Day at first was to celebrate the eight-hour working day.
The story about the eight-hour working day in New Zealand is about a carpenter called Samuel Parnell. He was born in London in 1810. As a young man he became a carpenter and worked long hours. Then he immigrated¹ to New Zealand – to Wellington – with his new wife in 1840. On board ship, he met a man called Mr Hunter who wanted Samuel Parnell to build him a store. Parnell said he would only work for eight hours a day. He said that there are 24 hours in a day, which meant eight hours for work, eight for sleep and eight for recreation or for doing whatever a man wanted to do. Hunter was not happy about this but there was a shortage² of carpenters in Wellington in those days so he had no choice.
Parnell used to meet new immigrants³ when they arrived by ship and tell them not to work more than eight hours a day, between 8am and 5pm with one hour for lunch. If anyone worked longer, they were thrown in the harbour. Parnell was called the father of the eight-hour working day. Parnell led the first Labour Day parade in October 1890. When he died a short time later, Wellington gave him a public funeral.
In 1900, the government made Labour Day a public holiday on the fourth Monday in October.

1 immigrated   

v.移入( immigrate的过去式和过去分词 )；移民

参考例句：

• He immigrated from Ulster in 1848. 他1848年从阿尔斯特移民到这里。 来自辞典例句
• Many Pakistanis have immigrated to Britain. 许多巴基斯坦人移居到了英国。 来自辞典例句

2 shortage   

n.缺少，缺乏，不足

参考例句：

• The city is suffering a desperate shortage of water.这个城市严重缺水。
• The heart of the problem is a shortage of funds.问题的关键是缺乏经费。

3 immigrants   

n.移民( immigrant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Illegal immigrants were given the opportunity to regularize their position. 非法移民得到了使其身份合法化的机会。
• Immigrants from all over the world populate this city. 这个城市里生活着来自世界各地的移民。 来自《简明英汉词典》