新西兰英语 610 Families with Disabled Children

 　　Today families with disabled children won an Appeal Court decision to be paid for looking after their children. Many of these children are now adults and caring for them is hard work.

　　Many disabled adults are in special homes with workers to look after them. These workers get paid but families who do this work every day do not get paid. They can, however, get a welfare benefit.

　　The fight for pay began 13 years ago when seven families went to a Human Rights Tribunal. This tribunal said that families should be paid. The Ministry¹ of Health then took this case to the High Court which said the same. Then the Ministry of Health went to the Court of Appeal. Each time, the court said that family members who care for disabled people should be paid. The Ministry of Health could now go to the Supreme² Court but it has already cost them $1.4m in legal costs.

　　The Minister of Health is worried that families who care for a sick, elderly parent might also want to be paid. The cost of paying families who are looking after dependants⁴ could be too much.

　　Listen to September 12th 2011 to hear about pay for workers caring for intellectually disabled people.

　　Vocabulary

　　?welfare benefit – similar to unemployment benefit, money for someone who has no job

　　?Tribunal – a court

　　?legal – adjective from ‘law’; cost of lawyers

　　?a dependant³. n. – (Brit); a dependent (Am)– someone who cannot look after himself or herself

　　Question

　　?Do you think that family members who care for disabled children should be paid?

　　?Is caring for a disabled person similar to caring for a sick elderly parent? Should they be paid the same?

1 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

2 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

3 dependant   

n.依靠的，依赖的，依赖他人生活者

参考例句：

• The dependent dependant cannot live independently.依靠别人的被赡养者不能独立生活。
• The fact that the woman is still regarded as the man's dependant.再加上女人仍被看作是男人的附属品这一事实。

4 dependants   

受赡养者，受扶养的家属( dependant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The government has agreed to take only 150 refugees plus their dependants. 政府承诺只收留150 名难民及家属。
• There are approximately 12 million migrants with their dependants living in the EU countries. 大约有1200万流动工人带着家属居住在欧盟诸国。