欧洲饮酒调查:英国人酒量最大

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.

一项调查表明，英国人比欧洲其它国家的人都能喝酒。

这一令人吃惊的调查结果表明英国于五年前实行的酒吧可24小时营业的政策是个很大的失败。

英国政府本希望更为宽松的酒吧经营政策能创造出一种欧式的“咖啡文化”。然而，这一新政却让市中心在周末的晚上成了危险区。

这项由欧洲晴雨表民意调查机构开展的调查发现，虽然英国人喝酒的频率并非欧洲最高，但他们一旦喝起酒来，就会喝很多。

约12%的英国人承认自己一次能喝七杯以上。为方便调查，这里的一杯指的是一杯葡萄酒、啤酒或烈性酒。

英国人的酒量甚至超过了在之前的类似调查中排在前列的爱尔兰、芬兰和德国，而在保加利亚、希腊和奥地利，几乎没有人说自己一次能喝七杯。

仅有20%的英国人说他们在过去12个月中滴酒未沾，而在葡萄牙、意大利和匈牙利，这一比例为英国的两倍。

欧洲晴雨表调查机构的一名发言人说：“欧洲是全世界人均饮酒量最大的地区，而英国人的单次饮酒量则高居欧洲各国之首。”

英国内政部的统计数据显示，由酗酒引起的犯罪和骚乱每年要花费纳税人80亿至130亿英镑。

内政部部长艾伦．坎贝尔于本月宣布，按照旨在抑制豪饮风气的新法规，那些继续推出“无限畅饮”促销活动的酒吧老板将被处以监禁。

从七月份开始，酒馆和酒吧需提供小计量酒具，让顾客们可以有所选择。

此外，酒吧必须要求那些看起来年龄在18岁以下的人在买酒前出示身份证明。

一半的英国人说他们每周喝酒“三到四次”，而60%的意大利人每天喝酒两杯。

欧洲人总体饮酒频率为每周平均一至三次。

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）狂欢者

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 禁区（常因被暴力团伙控制）

pollster: a person who makes or asks the questions in an opinion poll 民意测验主办人；民意调查员

guzzle: to drink something quickly and in large amounts 狂饮；猛喝；暴饮

binge-drinking: the consumption of large amounts of alcohol within a short period of time 豪饮