調查：五分之一的人要與寵物共度情人節

Rather than spending Valentine's Day with their partner, one fifth of adults would prefer to be with their pet, although the French still came top for romance, according to a joint global poll by Reuters/Ipsos.

The survey of 24,000 people in 23 countries found 21 percent of adults would rather spend February 14 with their pet than their spouse, although the French were least likely to choose a furry friend over a human with only 10 percent taking that option.

But the survey found that age and income were more of a determining factor than nationality when it came to romance, with younger, less affluent people more likely to choose their pet as their Valentine's Day companion.

John Wright, senior vice president of Ipsos, said 25 percent of people aged under 35 opted for their pet over their partner compared to 18 percent of those aged 35-54 and 14 percent of people aged 55 plus.

Men and women were evenly split over the question.

Those choosing pets over people were also more likely to be those who have a lower income (24 percent) compared to those who were middle or higher income earners (20 percent).

"Likely defying stereotype, the desire to spurn a partner for a pet is not rooted in gender but rather age and even there it seems the older you are, the least likely it is you'd choose pet over partner," said Wright.

"While there are country differences, it's more of a personal choice made by younger and less affluent individuals."

On a country-by-country basis, residents of Turkey were the most likely, at 49 percent, to choose their pet over their spouse or partner.

Next came India with 41 percent, then Japan with 30 percent, China with 29 percent, the United States with 27 percent and Australia with 25 percent.

On the other hand, the nations where residents were the least likely to want to spend the day with a pet instead of their spouse or partner were France at 10 percent, Mexico 11 percent, the Netherlands 12 percent and Hungary at 12 percent.

據路透集團和益普索調查機構日前聯合開展的一項全球民調顯示，五分之一的成年人願與寵物而非伴侶共度情人節。不過法國人依然最浪漫。

這項對23個國家共2.4萬人開展的調查發現，21%的成年人寧願與寵物而非伴侶共度2月14日的情人節，不過法國人選擇與寵物共度該節日的可能性最小，僅有10%的人有此意向。

但調查發現，與國籍相比，年齡和收入與人們浪漫與否的關係更大。經濟上不太富裕的年輕人更傾向於選擇與寵物共度情人節。

益普索調查機構的高級副總裁約翰•萊特說，年齡在35歲以下的人中，有25%的人選擇寵物而非伴侶共度情人節，而年齡在35到54歲之間的人做出這一選擇的比例爲18%，55歲以上人羣的這一比例爲14%。

男性和女性對這一問題的態度差不多。

收入較低的人更傾向於選擇與寵物共度情人節（24%），而中高收入者的這一比例爲20%。

萊特說：“這可能是一種反傳統的做法，重寵物輕伴侶的想法和性別無關，而在於年齡。似乎是一個人的年齡越大，選擇寵物的可能性越小。”

“儘管國家之間也存在差異，但這更多的是年輕和經濟上不富裕的人羣所做出的個人選擇。”

就不同國家而言，土耳其人選擇與寵物共度情人節的比例最高，達49%。

其次是印度，爲41%，日本爲30%，中國爲29%，美國是27%，澳大利亞是25%。

另一方面，法國人最不願意拋棄配偶或伴侶而選擇與寵物共度情人節，僅有10%的人願意這樣做；墨西哥人的這一比例爲11%，荷蘭爲12%，匈牙利爲12%。

Vocabulary:

affluent: having a lot of money and a good standard of living 富裕的

spurn: to reject or refuse somebody/something, especially in a proud way （尤指傲慢地）拒絕（She spurned all offers of help. 她斷然拒絕一切幫助。）