(图片说明)Soccer-mad Britons狂热的英国球迷

　　Soccer-mad criminals have been turning themselves in to British police stations in the hope of completing a short jail sentence in time to watch the World Cup, British newspapers reported. In "Operation Red Card", police in Hertfordshire, north of London, sent a simple message to defendants who have been failing to turn up in court: surrender now or spend the World Cup in a police cell with no television, according to the Evening Standard newspaper. "One man even turned up to court with his bag packed, expecting a short spell in prison," it quoted Hertfordshire's Sergeant Nigel Eastaugh as saying. "No doubt he wanted to get his sentence over and done with<注2> to make sure he would be free again in time for the World Cup." The paper said the 296 letters sent to offenders' last known addresses had resulted in 17 people walkingsintoslocal police stations to face charges such as assault and theft, while 10 had turned up for court hearings. But criminals who are not soccer fans are not safe. Eastaugh said that as a result of the mailing, police had received 60 tip-offs on the whereabouts of other offenders who would be rounded up in the coming weeks.

　　据英国报纸报道，痴迷于足球的罪犯们纷纷向英国警方投案自首以求在世界杯之前及时结束短暂的刑期。《旗帜晚报》报道，伦敦北部的赫特福德郡警方开展了“红牌行动”，向未到庭的被告发出了一条简单的信息：要么立即投案，要么在世界杯期间呆在没有电视的警局监房里。“有一名男子甚至打了背包上庭，准备在牢里呆上一阵，”报纸援引赫特福德郡警官奈杰尔·伊斯陶的话说。“毫无疑问他是想赶快结束刑期，以确保在世界杯开赛之时重获自由。”报纸说，发往罪犯们已知最新地址的296封信已经使17人前往当地警局面对袭击和盗窃之类的指控，另有10人到庭受审。不是球迷的罪犯也并不安全，伊斯陶说寄信的另一成果是使警方收到了60条关于其他罪犯下落的线报，警方将在今后数周内对他们展开追捕。

　　Remarks：健康的爱好的确有校正人的行为的作用，不是吗？