新奇事件簿 英国打击骚扰电话

Many people hate nuisance telephone calls. These are the calls we get from companies trying to sell us something that we usually do not want. They are also called 'cold calls'. Britain's government is thinking about taking action to stop these calls. One thing it wants to do is to make sure the company that calls does not hide its telephone number. With most nuisance calls, we cannot see the telephone number of who called us, but that could change. This means people could report companies who make nuisance calls. Another measure the British government is looking at is to fine companies that make nuisance calls. Cold callers could get a fine of up to $720,000 for making nuisance calls.

许多人反感骚扰电话。许多均是推销电话。这被人们叫作“cold calls”。英国政府正在对此采取措施。其中之一就是显示推销号码。对于绝大多数骚扰电话，我们看不到来电显示，但我们将对此进行改变。民众可以举报骚扰公司。另一项措施是对骚扰公司进行罚款。罚款金额达到了72万美金。

Three-quarters of people who own a landline in Britain get cold calls every month. The number of people who get monthly nuisance calls on their mobile phones increased from just over 50 per cent in 2014 to 72 per cent today. One company in Britain made 40 million cold calls in just three months. Britain's minister for data protection said nuisance calls were a problem. She said: "There is no simple solution to the problem of nuisance calls, but making direct marketing¹ companies display their telephone number will help consumers take action." She added: "Being pestered² by marketing calls is annoying at the best of times, and at its worst it can bring real misery³ for the people on the receiving end."

在英国，每个月有四分之三的固话用户会接到骚扰电话。手机用户每月的骚扰次数从2014年的50%增加到了今天的72%。仅用3个月，某英国公司就打出了4000万个骚扰电话。英国“数据保护”大臣表示，骚扰电话确实是个问题。她表示：“解决骚扰电话不是易事，显示推销公司电话将帮助用户采取行动。”她还指出：“骚扰电话会让人心烦意乱，也会给用户带来痛苦。”

1 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

2 pestered   

使烦恼，纠缠( pester的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Journalists pestered neighbours for information. 记者缠着邻居打听消息。
• The little girl pestered the travellers for money. 那个小女孩缠着游客要钱。

3 misery   

n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦

参考例句：

• Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。