Survey Reveals Britain is a Nation of Gossips

　　Britain is a nation of gossipmongers, with nearly 90% of British admitting they enjoy a good chinwag with friends and colleagues.

　　Research commissioned by Quickbrew found 14% people confessed they spent at least two hours a day gossiping. Work was found to be the favourite topic of conversation (20%), closely followed by current affairs (18%) and relationships (17%). Other people's lives appear to be a great source of fascination (17%), while only 3% of them like talking about the weather. Nearly half of them prefer having a gossip face-to-face (48%), rather than on the phone (36%), by email (7%), or via text message (6%). And only 1% said they would put pen to paper to share or find out gossip.

　　The 1CM poll of 1,004 adults across Britain also found an unsurprising gender divide when it comes to talking about relationships. Nearly a quarter of women (24%) said it was a popular topic, compared with just one in 10 men. Regional differences also emerged, with one in five people in the south east claiming they do not spend any time gossiping. The Welsh also appeared to be rather restrained with 45% saying they only spend between 15 and 30 minutes a day chatting. In contrast, one in five people in the north east said they enjoyed nattering for more than two hours a day.

　　英国一项调查显示,英国是个闲话国家,几乎90%的英国人都很喜欢和朋友。同事说闲话。

　　调查显示,14%的人承认每天至少花两个小时说闲话。工作是最受欢迎的闲谈话题(20%),其次是当前事(18%),再次是人际关系(17%)。许多人(17%)的闲谈话题都很多姿多彩,只有3%的人喜欢谈论天气。近半数的人(48%)喜欢面对面说闲话,超过喜欢通过电话说闲话的人(36%),7%的人通过电子邮件说闲话,6%的人通过手机短信。只有1%的喜欢通过书面交流说闲话。

　　1004名英国成年人接受了这项调查。在谈论人际关系的时候,男人和女人很不一样。妇人中近1/4 (24%)喜欢闲谈人际关系,而男人中只有10%喜欢这个话题。说闲话也会有地区差异,东南部1/5的人声称他们不会花时间说闲话。威尔士人则更拘谨,45%人说他们一天只会花15至30分钟聊天。与此相反,东北部1/5的人说他们每天喜欢花上超过2个小时谈天说地。

　　(文/侍凤艳；《英语辅导报》高中教师版03~04学年度第25期；版权归英语辅导报社所有，独家网络合作伙伴新浪教育，未经许可，不得以任何形式进行转载。)