新奇事件簿 英国打击骚扰电话（在线收听）

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 marketing companies display their telephone number will help consumers take action." She added: "Being pestered by marketing calls is annoying at the best of times, and at its worst it can bring real misery 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。”