中國網站品牌欄目（頻道）
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 Binge culture: Britons drink the largest quantity of booze at a single session, the poll revealed.
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British revellers drink more alcohol than anyone else in Europe, a survey reveals. The disturbing findings expose the massive failure of the introduction of 24-hour drinking five years ago. Ministers predicted new relaxed licensing laws would create a European-style 'cafe culture'. Instead, they turned town centres into no-go areas on Friday and Saturday nights. The study by pollsters Eurobarometer found that while Britons are not Europe's most frequent drinkers, once we are on a drinking session, we guzzle more alcohol than anyone else. Some 12 per cent of Britons admitted to downing more than seven drinks in a session. For the purposes of the survey, one drink was defined as a single glass of wine, beer or spirits. Britain's binge-drinking put it ahead of the likes of Ireland, Finland and Germany, which have all scored highly in previous alcohol studies, while in Bulgaria, Greece and Austria, not one person admitted drinking more than seven drinks in a single session. Only 20 per cent of Britons said they had consumed no alcohol in the past 12 months, compared to double that figure in Portugal, Italy and Hungary. A Eurobarometer spokesman added: 'Europe is the region with the highest per capita alcohol consumption in the world, and Britain tops the league for the largest volumes drunk in single sessions.' Home Office figures show crime and disorder caused by binge drinking costs the taxpayer between ￡8billion and ￡13billion a year. Home Office Minister Alan Campbell announced this month that pub owners who offered 'all you can drink' promotions could be jailed under laws designed to curb binge drinking. From July, pubs and bars will be forced to offer smaller drinking measures so customers can choose to drink less. And they will have to ask anyone who looks younger than 18 for identification before selling them alcohol. Half of Britons said they drank 'three or four times' a week, compared with 60 per cent of Italians, who said they drank up to two glasses every day of the week. The European average is between one and three times a week. (Read by Renee Haines. Renee Haines is a multimedia journalist at the China Daily Web site.) (Agencies) |
一項調查表明，英國人比歐洲其它國家的人都能喝酒。 這一令人吃驚的調查結果表明英國于五年前實行的酒吧可24小時營業的政策是個很大的失敗。 英國政府本希望更為寬松的酒吧經營政策能創造出一種歐式的“咖啡文化”。然而，這一新政卻讓市中心在周末的晚上成了危險區。 這項由歐洲晴雨表民意調查機構開展的調查發現，雖然英國人喝酒的頻率并非歐洲最高，但他們一旦喝起酒來，就會喝很多。 約12%的英國人承認自己一次能喝七杯以上。為方便調查，這里的一杯指的是一杯葡萄酒、啤酒或烈性酒。 英國人的酒量甚至超過了在之前的類似調查中排在前列的愛爾蘭、芬蘭和德國，而在保加利亞、希臘和奧地利，幾乎沒有人說自己一次能喝七杯。 僅有20%的英國人說他們在過去12個月中滴酒未沾，而在葡萄牙、意大利和匈牙利，這一比例為英國的兩倍。 歐洲晴雨表調查機構的一名發言人說：“歐洲是全世界人均飲酒量最大的地區，而英國人的單次飲酒量則高居歐洲各國之首?！?/p> 英國內政部的統計數據顯示，由酗酒引起的犯罪和騷亂每年要花費納稅人80億至130億英鎊。 內政部部長艾倫?坎貝爾于本月宣布，按照旨在抑制豪飲風氣的新法規，那些繼續推出“無限暢飲”促銷活動的酒吧老板將被處以監禁。 從七月份開始，酒館和酒吧需提供小計量酒具，讓顧客們可以有所選擇。 此外，酒吧必須要求那些看起來年齡在18歲以下的人在買酒前出示身份證明。 一半的英國人說他們每周喝酒“三到四次”，而60%的意大利人每天喝酒兩杯。 歐洲人總體飲酒頻率為每周平均一至三次。 相關閱讀 （中國日報網英語點津 陳丹妮 編輯蔡姍姍） |
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Vocabulary: reveller: a person who is having fun in a noisy way, usually with a group of other people and often after drinking alcohol （醉酒）狂歡者 no-go area: an area, especially in a city, which is dangerous for people to enter, or that the police or army do not enter, often because it is controlled by a violent group 禁區（常因被暴力團伙控制） pollster: a person who makes or asks the questions in an opinion poll 民意測驗主辦人；民意調查員 guzzle: to drink something quickly and in large amounts 狂飲；猛喝；暴飲 binge-drinking: the consumption of large amounts of alcohol within a short period of time 豪飲 |
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