The tower is part of the Sky City complex， a citycentre compendium of casinos， entertainment and eateries. All rather on the tacky side， the tower itself is definitely the central attraction. There are three observation decks， and a somewhatterrifying glassfronted elevator that takes you to them. The views at the top are naturally breathtaking - as far as 80km on a clear day.
The tower also makes a stunning structure from the outside - soaring out of the fairly small set of skyscrapers in Auckland，s city centre， it is everyone，s bearing point for working out where they are in the city. It stands out particularly at night， when the whole “mast” is floodlit in different colours (the choice of colours depending on current sponsors or charity events).
For the really crazy， there，s Sky Jump， a jump of 192 metres - making it the highest landbased jump in the world. Using state of the art technology and wires， this is strictly for the bungee obsessed. You free fall for 20 seconds……
The New Zealand Parliament
国会大厦
新西兰国会大厦建筑群是这里最吸引游客的名胜之一，每星期对外开放７天，可为游人提供免费讲解参观。国会大厦建筑群位于惠灵顿的市中心，从这里短程步行即可到达附近许多国家级珍贵建筑，如国家档案馆、圣保罗大教堂及从前的政府大厦。国会大厦则以其酷似蜂窝的独特外形而闻名。
The New Zealand Parliament is the legislative legislative adj.立法的， 立法机关的 n.立法机关 body of the New Zealand government.
Technically， the term “Parliament” encompasses both the monarch and the normally 120member House of Representatives， but to most people， “Parliament” refers to the House of Representatives alone. Under the Constitution Act 1986， this usage became formal.
Originally， as specified in the British New Zealand Constitution Act 1852， the New Zealand had a bicameral bicameral adj.两院制的， 有两个议院的 Parliament， with the House of Representatives as the lower house and the Legislative Council as the upper house. Since the abolition of the Legislative Council in 1951，the Parliament has been unicameral.
New Zealand essentially essentially adv.本质上， 本来 follows the Westminster System of government.
Members of Parliament
The House of Representatives takes as its model the British House of Commons. It normally consists of 120 reprentatives， known as “Members of Parliament” or MPs.，Until 1951 they had the title of “Members of the House of Representatives” or MHRs..Seats in the debating chamber form a horseshoehorseshoe n.马蹄铁 vt.装蹄铁于 pattern， with members of the governing party or coalition sitting on one side and members of the opposition sitting opposite. The Speaker of the House of Representatives acts as the presiding officer.
The executive branch of the New Zealand government (the Cabinet) draws its membership exclusively from Parliament， based on which party or parties can claim a majority. The Prime Minister (PM) leads the government： the GovernorGeneral appoints the PM from a party or from a coalition which appears to have enough support in the House to govern. This support is immediately tested through a Motion of Confidence. The current government is a coalition between Labour and the Progressive Party； the Prime Minister is Helen Clark. The Leader of the Opposition is the leader of the largest opposition party. Currently the Leader of the Opposition is Don Brash of the National Party.
Parliamentary Elections
Election to the New Zealand Parliament is by the MMP. electoral system， which provides for proportional representation. The MMP. system means that there are usually several parties present in Parliament - at present， there are eight. The MMP system replaced the old “firstpastthepost” system after a referendum in 1993. The first MMP. vote was at the 1996 election.
Under the MMP. system， the size of Parliament is normally 120 MPs.. Slightly more than half of these (referred to as “electorate MPs.”) are chosen from geographical electorates on a firstpastthepost basis； he remainder are chosen from closed party lists and are known as “list MPs.”. A candidate may contest an electorate， appear on the list， or both； candidates candidate n.候选人， 投考者 who have won electorate seats are eliminated from party lists before the list MPs. are named.