A study has found that for more than half of us, conversation turns to our climate at least once every six hours. A quarter of us deem the topic of such interest that we use it as an icebreaker. Our obsession with the weather runs so deep that almost 70 percent of British people check the weather forecast at least once a day. And the fascination appears to increase with age, as more than 80 percent of over-55s seek out a daily forecast, compared to 42 percent of 18 to 24-year-olds.
一项研究显示，我们中一半以上的人每6小时就会谈论一次天气。1/4的人认为我们喜欢谈论这个话题因为我们用天气来缓和拘谨的气氛，打破僵局。我们对天气的热衷是如此之深，以至于70%的英国人每天至少会看一次天气预报。而且英国人对天气的热衷度会随着年龄的增长而提高，55岁的老人中，有80%以上的人会每天看天气预报，而在18岁到24岁的人群中，这个比例只有42%。
Foreign observers are often quick to gloat that Britain's unpredictable and often wet weather is the cause of our fixation , however, only 44 percent of those polled agreed. One in five claimed that weather-talk is an easy way of appearing friendly to strangers, while 12 percent said it helps keep conversations safe and impersonal . Social anthropologist Kate Fox, who is director of the Social Issues Research Centre think tank, said:" Britons need weather-talk to help us overcome our social inhibitions and handicaps ." "The variability of the British weather makes it an ideal medium for our social messages." "We certainly talk about it a lot but this is not because it is an intrinsically interesting topic. Over half of the people we spoke to admitted that they used weather-talk to facilitate social interaction.
外国人总会幸灾乐祸地说我们之所以这么执着于天气的话题是因为英国的天气总是变化多端且总是下雨，然而据调查，只有44%的人赞成这一说法。有1/5的人宣称跟陌生人谈论天气会显得英国人很友好，而另外有12%的人则认为谈论天气可以让交谈不涉及个人隐私，比较安全。社会人类学家凯特·福克斯是英国社会问题研究中心智囊团的主任，她表示：“谈论天气能帮我们克服社交的感情阻力与障碍。”“英国天气的变化多端使其成为了社交信息的理想媒介。”“我们之所以会这么痴迷于天气的话题并不是因为这个话题很有趣。我们访问过的一半以上的人都承认他们谈论天气是为了促进社交。”
