大雪封門 英國已婚男女上網尋一夜情
Thousands of Married men and women around Britain are turning to adultery to relieve the boredom of being snowed in, according to an extramarital dating website.
Spouses forced to work from home in swathes of the country where snow has brought transport to a standstill are flocking online to search for new romances, according to the website .
The site, which provides a forum for married people looking to start affairs, says it has gained more than 2,500 new members over the past six days, the majority of whom are registering from the areas worst-hit by the extreme weather.
There has been a particularly high level of applications over the past 24 hours, with a record number of new dating profiles set up as millions of people woke up to heavy snow this morning.
Many of the new applicants are from Hampshire, Berkshire, and West Country, with more than 900 new members joining from Dorset, Devon and Cornwall in the last three days. The site has been forced to employ extra staff to cope with the influx.
The rise in membership is thought to be caused by the boredom of being stuck at home in the snow as the UK knuckles down for its coldest winter in 30 years. Married men and women are also thought to be taking the opportunity to register from home, away from the prying eyes of colleagues in the office.
Sarah Hartley of said: "The adverse weather has obviously influenced many sign-ups. Usually, the West Country is a relatively quiet area for us – but over the last 3 days we have received over 900 new members from Cornwall, Devon and Dorset.
"Perhaps these wives and husbands have just been waiting for a time when they could join, away from the eyes of their work colleagues and, most importantly, their partners."
The website, which was launched in 2003, has 350,000 members in the UK, the majority of whom are professionals aged between 36 and 40.
英國一家婚外戀網站日前稱，由於連日大雪讓人倍感無聊，英國各地數千名已婚男女竟尋求“婚外情”排解寂寞。
據網站稱，大雪導致英國很多地區交通中斷，使得很多已婚男女不得不在家工作，而在這段時間裏，他們則蜂擁至網上尋找新戀情。
這家爲已婚男女提供尋找婚外情機會的網站稱，在過去六天的時間裏，網站的新註冊會員超過2500人，其中大多數人來自受此次極端天氣影響最惡劣的重災區。
今晨英國各地普降大雪，在過去24小時內，該網站的新註冊會員激增，約會資料創建數量增長空前。
其中很多新註冊會員來自漢普郡、伯克郡和英格蘭西南部。過去三天內，共有900多名來自多賽特郡、德文郡和康沃爾郡的網民註冊成爲該網站的會員。爲此該網站不得不招聘新員工。
該網站會員人數激增一方面是因爲很多人被大雪困在家中無事可做。今年英國遭遇了近30年來最寒冷的冬天。另一個原因是已婚男女趁待在家裏的時候註冊該網站，以免在辦公室註冊被同事看見。
IllicitEncounters網站的莎拉•哈特利說：“惡劣天氣顯然是註冊人數激增的原因之一。對於我們來說，英格蘭西南部是個相對比較‘安靜’的地區，但在過去三天裏，有900多名新成員來自多賽特郡、德文郡和康沃爾郡。”
“也許這些已婚男女一直在等待合適的時機，以免被同事，尤其是被伴侶發現。”
該網站於2003年成立，目前在全國已有35萬名會員，其中大多數人爲年齡在36歲至40歲之間的專業人士。
Vocabulary:
be snowed in：被雪困住
swathe：a strip, belt, or long and relatively narrow extent of anything（長而窄的地帶）
prying：impertinently or unnecessarily curious or inquisitive（愛打聽的）
sign-up：an act or instance of signing up（註冊）
