新西兰英语 277 Air NZ and Virgin Blue

　　Air NZ and Virgin¹ Blue airlines may become partners to fly across the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand. First, however, the Transport Ministers in both countries have to agree.
In 2002, Air NZ and Qantas had talks about becoming partners. However, this would have given the two airlines about 85% of the market and this was not fair to passengers. On the other hand, an alliance² between Air New Zealand and Virgin Blue would give them 56% of the market so there would be competition. There are now other airlines which fly across the Tasman at the end of their trip from other countries. Emirates, for instance³, flies from Dubai to Sydney then on to Auckland⁴.
Virgin Blue is a cut price airline. Meals are not included in the price. Virgin Blue travels more to holiday places like the Gold Coast in Australia. AirNZ is a full service airline. They carry many business class passengers to the main cities.
The two airlines would code⁵ share. This means⁶ you could book a seat on Virgin Blue but fly in an AirNZ plane. The advantage for the airlines is they could fill planes more easily. The advantage for passengers is that there could be flights to different cities, like Hamilton.
Question to think about
At the moment, Air NZ has about 170 flights a week across the Tasman and Virgin Blue has about 70 flights. Why do so many people travel across the Tasman?

1 virgin   

n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的

参考例句：

• Have you ever been to a virgin forest?你去过原始森林吗？
• There are vast expanses of virgin land in the remote regions.在边远地区有大片大片未开垦的土地。

2 alliance   

n.同盟，同盟国，结盟，联姻

参考例句：

• China will not enter into alliance with any big power.中国不同任何大国结盟。
• The new alliance was very much in evidence.新的联盟上星期很引人注目。

3 instance   

n.例，例证，实例

参考例句：

• Can you quote me a recent instance?你能给我举一个最近的例子吗？
• He's a greedy boy,yesterday,for instance,he ate all our biscuits!他是个贪吃的孩子――比如，他昨天把我们的饼干都吃了！

4 Auckland   

n.奥克兰(新西兰港市)

参考例句：

• Auckland is the largest city in New Zealand.奥克兰是新西兰最大的城市。
• Return to auckland by bus in afternoon.下午乘车返回奥克兰。

5 code   

n.代码，代号，密码；法典，法规，规划

参考例句：

• What's the code for Tianjin?天津的代号是多少？
• Remember to use postal code.勿忘使用邮政编码。

6 means   

n.方法，手段，折中点，物质财富

参考例句：

• That man used artful means to find out secrets.那人使用狡猾的手段获取机密。
• We must get it done by some means or other.我们总得想办法把它干完。