If you're wondering where the man of the house has got to, he's probably on the phone. Men have swopped places with women as the family chatterbox, a survey has found. They dominate the house phone as well as constantly chatting on their mobiles.

　　如果你想在家里找到男人，那么他很可能在电话机旁边。一项调查发现，男人和女人掉了个位置，他们更喜欢在家里打电话闲聊。他们霸占家里的电话，或者通过手机滔滔不绝。

　　The average man is on the phone for 32 minutes a day, up from 22 five years ago. Women, on the other hand, spend a daily average of 26 minutes on the phone, down from 35 in 2002.

　　男人平均打电话的时间由五年前的每天通话22分钟增至了如今的32分钟。与此同时，女人每天打电话的时间从2002年的35分钟降至26分钟。

　　But it's not because they suddenly have less to say. Women appear to prefer to share their gossip using e-mail and text messages, said the study of 3,500 adults.

　　这份对3500个成年人的调查显示，女人电话时间缩短并不表示她们突然变得无话可说，而是她们更偏好通过电子邮件和短信的方式来闲聊。

　　Calling banks or insurance companies, buying tickets and booking restaurant tables were included in the conversations used to calculate the time spent on the phone. Work calls, however, were not.

　　这份调查不包括涉及工作的电话，但是包括了与银行或保险公司通话，或是买票和餐馆订座等电话。