Mobile phone thefts are soaring in Britain but nearly as many people drop their handset into the toilet or a drink or accidentally put it in with their laundry, a new survey showed. The survey by Continental Research, a British market research organization, revealed that while 1.3 million people had their mobiles stolen last year, some 1.6 million lost their phones in one way or another. It said 600,000 people dropped them down the toilet; 400,000 dropped their handset into a drink and 200,000 found they had accidentally bundled it into the washing machine. The survey's finding that 1.3 million people have had their phone stolen is almost double the official figure released by the Home Office (interior ministry). "These figures are quite shocking and probably reflect a truer picture than the Home Office since it only looked at those phones which had been reported as being stolen and not everyone wants to report stolen phones," Colin Shaddick, Continental Research director, told reporters.

　　新的调查显示，英国的手机盗窃事件正在飞速增长，而差不多同样多的人把手机掉进了厕所里、饮料中，或是不小心把它塞到了要洗的衣服里。由英国市场调查机构大陆研究组织进行的这项调查发现去年有130万人的手机失窃，而以这样那样的方式遗失手机的则有160万人。有60万人把手机掉进了厕所里，40万人的手机掉进了饮料中，还有20万人不慎将手机卷在衣服里塞进了洗衣机。调查得出的130万手机失窃人数几乎两倍于英国内政部公布的官方数字。大陆研究组织负责人科林·沙迪克告诉记者说：“这些十分惊人的数字可能比内政部的数字更真实些，因为内政部只盯着那些被报称失窃的手机，但是并不是所有手机被盗的人都愿意去报失窃。”

　　Remarks：由此可见，手机在英国已经成了一种时尚消费品，很容易遗失或损坏——旧的不去、新的不来嘛。