Love is the most favourate word in Britain. Britain's three favourite words are love, serendipity and family, according to a charity effort to build a "wall of words". Telecommunications giant BT and children's charity I CAN have already built a mile long "wall" from thousands of online submissions to their Internet site www.wallofwords.org.uk and are hoping to complete a second mile. Visitors to the Web site submit their favourite word and the reasons why. The wall is made from virtual bricks represented by each word submitted. BT has already donated 50,000 pounds to I CAN on completion of the first mile and is offering prizes to contributors for the second mile. It's not surprising that a nation which has seen a lot of slate grey skies over the winter chose sunshine as its fourth most favourite word or that a people famed for their stiff upper lips chose smile as number 6 and happy as number 10. "It's heart-warming to see that, despite all our daily pressures and worries, so many positive emotional words are turning up in this list. It seems we're not just a romantic people - we're playful too," linguist David Crystal, an honorary professor at the University of Bangor in Wales, said in an I CAN press statement released on Tuesday. Although love was the top choice overall and the number one choice for women, antidisestablishmentarianism was the top choice for men and the ninth most favourite word on the list. Regionally, Welsh contributors favoured the word "cwtch" (cuddle) and Scots favoured "numpty" (an abbreviation of "numbskull"). 點擊查看更多雙語新聞 (AFP)

英國一項建造“詞語墻”的慈善活動發現，愛、意外的發現和家庭三個詞在英國最受青睞。 通訊業巨頭英國電信和兒童慈善機構I CAN根據用戶在活動網站www.wallofwords.org.uk上提交的幾千個詞語，建造了一道長達1英里的“詞語墻”，目前他們希望能完成第二個英里的建造。 用戶可登陸活動網站提交他們最喜愛的詞語，并說明原因。這道“詞語墻”由虛擬磚塊砌成，每塊磚都是一個被提交的詞語。英國電信已為第一個英里“詞語墻”的建造向I CAN 慈善組織捐助了5萬英鎊，目前正向第二英里詞語的提供者發放獎品。 對于一個整個冬天都被籠罩在灰蒙蒙的天空下的國家來說，“陽光”成為第四個最受喜愛的詞并不令人驚訝；對于不茍言笑的英國人來說，“微笑”一詞名列第六、“快樂”一詞名列第十也很正常。 威爾士班戈大學的名譽教授、語言學家大衛·克里斯托在本周二ＩCAN 慈善機構發表的一份新聞聲明中說：“盡管我們在日常生活中面臨很多壓力和煩惱，但很多具有積極感情色彩的詞語出現在了最受喜愛的詞語之列，這讓人很高興。這也說明我們不僅是個浪漫的民族，而且懂得幽默。” “愛”一詞名列最受喜愛詞語排行榜之首，同時也是女性的最愛，但“反對教會分離者”一詞則為男性的首選，并在總排行榜上名列第九。 從各地區來看，威爾士人最喜歡“擁抱”一詞，而蘇格蘭人則最喜愛“笨蛋”一詞。 （英語點津姍姍編輯）