新奇事件簿 四分之三的英国人犯过轻微罪行

A new report from a British market research company says there is a "wave of micro crime" in the country. Researchers from the organisation¹ YouGov said they were shocked by their findings². Matthew Smith, a data analyst³ at YouGov, said: "Looking around you, you probably wouldn't expect that three in every four people you see are hiding a criminal past. Yet that's exactly what is happening as new research…[shows] that as many as 74 per cent of British people are 'micro-criminals' – having done at least one very minor⁴ or 'micro' crime." The most common crime confessed⁵ to by the British public is paying someone cash for services, knowing that the person will not pay tax on it.

来自英国市场调查公司一份新的报告称，这个国家存在轻微犯罪浪潮。来自YouGov组织的调查人员表示，他们为自己的发现感到震惊。YouGov组织数据分析师Matthew Smith表示：“看一下你周围，你可能不会想到四分之三的人隐瞒着犯罪的过去。然而，这确实是一项最新研究的结果，多达74%的英国人是轻微的罪犯。——至少曾经犯过一次非常轻微或微小的罪行。”英国公众承认的最常见的罪行是在知道某人不会缴税的情况下为某项服务支付现金。

YouGov says that men and middle-class people were the most likely to commit these micro crimes. Researchers say 77 per cent of men and 71 per cent of women committed micro crimes. About 80 per cent of middle-class people admitted to committing micro crimes while the figure was closer to 70 per cent for working-class people. The second-most commonly committed crime was illegally downloading or streaming TV shows, movies or music. Slightly fewer than 30 per cent of people said they had done this. Other micro crimes included not paying for plastic bags in supermarkets, lying about your age to get a better deal, and eating things in a supermarket without paying.

YouGov表示，男性和中产阶级是最可能犯这些轻微罪行的人。研究人员表示，77%的男性和71%的女性曾犯过微小的罪行。大约80%的中产阶级承认犯过轻微罪行，而劳动阶级犯这种罪行的比例接近70%。第二个最常见的罪行是非法下载或散布电视节目，电影和音乐。稍微低于30%的人表示他们曾经这样做过。其他轻微的罪行包括在超市没有支付塑料袋的费用，为了得到更好的待遇谎报年龄，在超市不付钱就吃东西。

1 organisation   

n.组织，安排，团体，有机休

参考例句：

• The method of his organisation work is worth commending.他的组织工作的方法值得称道。
• His application for membership of the organisation was rejected.他想要加入该组织的申请遭到了拒绝。

2 findings   

n.发现物( finding的名词复数 )；调查（或研究）的结果；（陪审团的）裁决

参考例句：

• It behoves us to study these findings carefully. 我们理应认真研究这些发现。
• Their findings have been widely disseminated . 他们的研究成果已经广为传播。

3 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

4 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

5 confessed   

adj. 众所周知的，公认的 动词confess的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• She confessed to the murder. 她供认犯了谋杀罪。
• He confessed to a priest that he had sinned. 他向神父忏悔他犯了罪。