新西兰英语 205 Labour Day

（单词翻译）

　　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.