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.
一項最新調查顯示，英國男性打算小花一筆錢買禮物來安撫他們的妻子和女友，以彌補世界盃期間因看球而對她們的冷落。
荷蘭花卉協會開展的這一調查共對1000名英國人進行了訪問。調查顯示，英國男性準備一次花20英鎊(合28.86美元)或更多點給伴侶買禮物，以表達他們世界盃期間因在家或與男伴去酒吧看球而冷落對方的歉意。南非世界盃將於本周開幕。
此外，調查還顯示，儘管女性都喜歡昂貴的禮物，但一束鮮花同樣能打動她們的心(33%)，其次是巧克力(22%)和一頓大餐(15%)，而且大部分女性對這種「安撫」禮物的心理預期價位都不超過9英鎊。
荷蘭花卉協會在一項聲明中說：「應這項調查而新推出的一款iPhone智能應用軟體能幫助球迷們解決未來一個月中既要看球又要安撫伴侶的難題。」
這款名為「ScoreAtHome的免費軟體能幫你找到離酒吧最近的花店，這樣你就能一邊喝著啤酒，一邊打個電話給愛人訂花。這款軟體還能讓你查到最新的比賽戰況。
Vocabulary:
gear up to do sth.: 準備好做某事
mollify: to make somebody feel less angry or upset 使平靜;撫慰
be glued to sth.: to give all your attention to something 全神貫注看著某物
gogglebox: <英口> 電視機
kick off: when a football game or a team, etc.kicks off, the game starts (指足球比賽等)開球，開始
booty: valuable things that are stolen, especially by soldiers in a time of war 戰利品
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;失體面;丟臉
on the go:活躍;忙個不停