A photographer is outlined against the 2006 FIFA World Cup logo projected on a screen. English football fans watching World Cup matches on their office computer screens could cost their employers billions of pounds, according to a report released on Monday. The BBC has said its policy of making matches available live on the Internet "will allow people to do their job and keep up with the very latest action", but analysts at Brabners Chaffe Street are not so sure about the "doing their job" part of that. Their study reckons that if half of all British workers spend just one hour a day watching footie online, the British economy could find itself four billion pounds out of pocket. That is without factoring in the number of days lost through workers calling in sick when they are hungover -- though 80 percent of managers have said, in another survey, that they are not going to tolerate such behaviour this year. On the other hand, some businesses stand to make a tidy profit from English football mania -- not least pubs. Nearly one in four English people have said they plan to watch the games pint in hand. According to a study also published on Monday, fans in England -- not including the ones who are actually travelling to Germany for the tournament -- are likely to spend an average of 60 pounds each every time England play. Twenty-six of those pounds are set to go on gambling, but that still leaves 34, which break down as 13 on food and drink, five on transportation, and 12 on boozy celebration or sorrows-drowning, depending on the result.   (Agencies)

本周一公布的一份调查报告显示，英国的足球迷们若使用公司电脑在线观看世界杯赛，公司将会损失几十亿英镑。 英国广播公司说，网上直播比赛“可以让球迷们在工作的同时，随时掌握比赛最新战况”，可Brabners Chaffe Street的分析家们却认为"工作"这一头很难保证。 据分析家估算，即使全英国一半的职员每天只花一个小时在线观看比赛，英国将遭受40亿英镑的经济损失。 这还不包括员工在此期间因醉酒而请的病假--虽然另有调查表明，80％的管理人员表示，今年世界杯期间，他们不会容忍这样的事情发生。 从另一方面看，一些行业准备从英国的“足球热”中大赚一笔，尤其是一些酒馆。 近四分之一的英国人说，他们将一边喝酒，一边看比赛。 本周一公布的另一调查表明，若逢英国队比赛，英国球迷（不包括去德国看比赛的球迷）的人均消费将可能达到60英镑。 调查显示，其中26英镑将用于赌博，剩下34英镑中餐饮费13英镑，交通费5英镑，还有12英镑用来喝酒庆祝或借酒消愁，那就要视比赛结果而定了。 (英语点津姗姗编辑)