英球迷为看世界杯买礼物安抚女友

British men are gearing up to spend a small fortune in presents to mollify their wives and girlfriends for all the time they intend to spend watching this summer's soccer World Cup, a new survey showed.

A Flower Council of Holland survey of 1,000 Britons showed men are prepared to spend 20 pounds ($28.86) a time or slightly more saying sorry for being glued to the gogglebox or heading down to the pub to watch matches with their mates when the tournament kicks off in South Africa this week.

However, the research also reveals that women, while appreciating expensive gifts, are just as happy with a bunch of flowers (33 percent), followed by chocolates (22 percent) or a good meal (15 percent) and most put the value of expected apologetic booty at just under nine pounds per incident.

"In response to these findings, a clever new iPhone app has been unveiled to make sure our men stay firmlyin the public house rather than the doghouse during the four-week period," the Flower Council of Holland said in a statement.

The free "ScoreAtHome" app helps you find the nearest florist to the pub so you can call through your floral apology while still sipping a pint. It also allows you to check the latest football scores on the go.

一项最新调查显示，英国男性打算小花一笔钱买礼物来安抚他们的妻子和女友，以弥补世界杯期间因看球而对她们的冷落。

荷兰花卉协会开展的这一调查共对1000名英国人进行了访问。调查显示，英国男性准备一次花20英镑（合28.86美元）或更多点给伴侣买礼物，以表达他们世界杯期间因在家或与男伴去酒吧看球而冷落对方的歉意。南非世界杯将于本周开幕。

此外，调查还显示，尽管女性都喜欢昂贵的礼物，但一束鲜花同样能打动她们的心（33%），其次是巧克力（22%）和一顿大餐（15%），而且大部分女性对这种“安抚”礼物的心理预期价位都不超过9英镑。

荷兰花卉协会在一项声明中说：“应这项调查而新推出的一款iPhone智能应用软件能帮助球迷们解决未来一个月中既要看球又要安抚伴侣的难题。”

这款名为“ScoreAtHome的免费软件能帮你找到离酒吧最近的花店，这样你就能一边喝着啤酒，一边打个电话给爱人订花。这款软件还能让你查到最新的比赛战况。

Vocabulary:

gear up to do sth.: 准备好做某事

mollify: to make somebody feel less angry or upset 使平静；抚慰

be glued to sth.: to give all your attention to something 全神贯注看着某物

gogglebox: <英口> 电视机

kick off: when a football game or a team, etc.kicks off, the game starts （指足球比赛等）开球，开始

booty: valuable things that are stolen, especially by soldiers in a time of war 战利品

be in the doghouse: if you are in the doghouse, somebody is annoyed with you because of something that you have done 受冷落；失体面；丢脸

on the go:活跃；忙个不停