喝酒就要喝到“挂”？

饮酒的传统在英国文化中源远流长，酒馆遍布大街小巷，浓郁的酒文化也造就了不少大街小巷都躺着喝醉的人。尽管政府和媒体都采取行动和号召对酒精适可而止，可是根据最新的国家统计局调查显示，这一“老大难”的酗酒问题似乎并没有缓解。

测试中可能遇到的词汇和知识：

binge 狂欢；放纵[bɪn(d)ʒ]

binge drinking 酗酒

fondness for 喜欢；喜爱

disparity 不同[dɪ'spærɪtɪ]

ethnic 种族的['eθnɪk]

teetotal 绝对戒酒的[tiː'təʊt(ə)l]

ONS 国家统计局(Office For National Statistics)

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UK binge drinking shows no signs of drying up, says ONS survey （516 words）

By Max Seddon

* * *

Britain’s fondness for for binge drinking shows no sign of abating, with more than 2.5m people drinking more in one day than the 14 units recommended per week.

Young drinkers lead the way, with 17 per cent of 16 to 24-year-olds exceeding the limit, equivalent to six pints of 4% alcohol beer. A further 45 per cent of all drinkers exceeded a third of the limit — two pints of beer or two glasses of wine — on their heaviest drinking day of the week.

The data were compiled by the Office of National Statistics in a survey that found 58 per cent of Britons admitted to drinking in the past week.

Less than half of young people reported drinking at all in the past week, compared with 66 per cent of those aged 45 to 64.

That may be because they are struggling to afford it. People with incomes over £40,000 a year were more than twice as likely to drink five times or more a week than those earning less than £10,000.

Disparities among genders are likely to play a part: women were less likely to drink overall, but made up 67 per cent of drinkers in the lowest income group, whereas men made up 77 per cent of the high-earning drinkers. Young people, who drink less as a whole, are also under-represented in the higher-income brackets.

Drinkers’ frequency also affected their choice of tipple. Heavy drinkers favoured six or more pints down the pub (or cans of Żywiec on the street), whereas the more restrained were fonder of wine, making it the most popular drink overall.

The popularity of wine in the UK is in part due to its status as the world’s largest export market for champagne, which it has held since 1996. Imports to Britain went up 4.5 per cent year on year, according to the Champagne Bureau in separate statistics released on Tuesday, three times the global growth rate.

The Bacardi Breezer, however, looks to be well on its way out, with less than 1 per cent of respondents saying they drank alcopops.

Britain’s ethnic diversity may begin to snap the trend. London was the only area where more than a quarter of respondents said they were teetotal — a result probably due to its high population of Asian and Asian British people, 70 per cent of whom do not drink.

The capital also had the lowest rate of people reporting drinking in the past week — 51 per cent, against 62 per cent in both the south-west and south-east of England. Wales and Scotland led the way in drinking over the weekly limit in a day, with 14 and 13 per cent respectively.

The charity Alcohol Concern reiterated its call for mandatory health warnings in response to the ONS data.

“Alcohol continues to be the leading risk factor for deaths among both men and women aged 15 to 49 and is linked to over 60 medical conditions including cancer, diabetes and high blood pressure,” said Jackie Ballard, Alcohol Concern’s chief executive. “When it comes to alcohol, there are no safe limits of consumption.”

请根据你所读到的文章内容，完成以下自测题目：

1. Who are more likely to exceed the limit on their heaviest drinking day of the week?

a. teenagers

b. children

c. middle-aged people

d. the aged

2. According to the article, why there are less than half of young people reported drinking at all in the past week?

a. lack of time

b. parents control

c. lack of money

d. low tolerance level for alcohol

3. Who are more likely be drinkers from the data?

a. women with low income

b. women with high income

c. men with low income

d. young people

4. What is the most popular drink in UK?

a. beer

b. wine

c. beer

d. Gin

[1] 答案a. teenagers

解释：调查显示在过量饮酒的问题上，16岁到24岁的年轻人是“领跑者”。

[2] 答案c. lack of money

解释：作者认为，喝酒的的频次和经济也有关系。

[3] 答案a. women with low income

解释：尽管总体来说女性可能更少喝酒，但在最低收入阶层中女性饮酒者占了67%

[4] 答案b. wine

解释：比较克制的人更喜欢红酒，所以红酒成为最广泛流行的品种。