A tourist poses below the hill of the Acropolis with the ancient temple of Athena Nike in the background in Athens September 7, 2010.(Agencies) |
The home of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle is the "most flirtatious city" of the modern world, a new study showed on Monday. Athens topped a "World Flirtation League," which ranked cities by the number of online flirtations initiated per month by the average user in each on online social networking site Badoo.com (www.badoo.com). Moscow came second, while Rome placed 8th and Madrid 31st, Paris 38th, London 57th, Berlin 79th, and New York 89th in the study of nearly 200 cities across the world in which Badoo analyzed 12 million flirtatious contacts made during a month, with 108 million users chatting and flirting in 180 countries. The Lonely Planet Encounter Guide to Athens author Victoria Kyriakopoulous said the results are hardly surprising as the Greek capital is a seductive city, with a hedonistic lifestyle. "Athenians love to party and they love to talk," she said. "Flirting and sexual banter are not just a means to an end but part of social interaction." She said the internet is just a new means to the age-old dance of attraction and love. "Old people flirt, married people flirt, now young people are simply using technology to do what Athenians have always done." The average Badoo user in Athens initiated 25.7 online flirtations per month -- over twice as many as in Rio (12.4) Warsaw (12.1) or Prague (12.6) and far more than in Paris (20.7), London (19.0), Berlin (17.7) or New York (16.1). Tunis, birthplace of the "Jasmine Revolution," is among three Arab cities (with Kuwait and Beirut) to make the world top 10, along with three former Soviet ones (Moscow, Kiev and Baku in Azerbaijan) and three Italian (Turin, Rome and Bari). Plato said "Love is a serious mental disease." The great man never shared his views on online flirting but he knew something at least about offline flirting, said Simon Hardy, British academic and author of "The Greeks, Eroticism and Ourselves." He said ancient Athenians may have honed the art of flirtation at drinking parties known as symposia, drinking parties where men flirted with dancing girls among other entertainment. "It is probably fair to say that the Athenians perfected the art of flirtation in ancient times, especially at the time of symposia described by Plato." (Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Website.) (Agencies) |
周一发布的一项新调查显示,苏格拉底、柏拉图和亚里士多德的故乡雅典当选为现代世界中的“最轻浮城市”。 雅典名列“世界轻浮城市”之首,这些“轻浮城市”是在线社交网站Badoo.com根据每个城市的用户平均每月发起的在线调情次数来排名的。 Badoo.com网站对全世界180个国家的1.08亿网络用户1个月内的网上聊天记录进行了研究,分析了其中1200万条调情对话,并籍此对全球200座城市进行排名。在榜单中,莫斯科排第二,罗马第八,马德里排第31位,巴黎38位,伦敦第57位,柏林第79位,纽约第89位。 《孤独星球旅行指南:雅典篇》一书的作者维多利亚•凯莉科坡露斯说,这个结果并不令人感到意外,因为作为希腊首都,雅典一直都是一座很诱人的城市,这儿的人们奉行快乐主义的生活方式。 她说:“雅典人喜欢聚会,也爱好交谈。调情和黄色玩笑并不是达到目的的一种手段,而是社会交际的一部分。” 她说以前人们通过跳舞来展现魅力,表达爱意,而网络只不过是一种新的“调情”媒介。 “老人会调情,已婚之人会调情,现在的年轻人只不过使用新科技做了雅典人常做的事情而已。” 在雅典,平均每个Badoo用户每月发起25.7次网上调情——是里约(12.4次)、华沙(12.1次)和布拉格(12.6次)的两倍多;远超过巴黎(20.7次)、伦敦(19.0次)和纽约(16.1次)的调情次数。 “茉莉花革命”的发生地突尼斯是三个进入榜单前十的阿拉伯城市之一,另外两个是科威特和贝鲁特。前十名中还有三个前苏联城市:莫斯科、基辅和阿塞拜疆的巴库,以及三个意大利城市:都灵、罗马和巴里。 柏拉图说,“爱情是严重的精神疾病。”英国学者西蒙•哈代说,这位伟大的哲学家从来没有谈过他对网上调情的看法,但是他至少对网下调情有所了解。西蒙•哈代是《希腊人、情欲和我们自己》的作者。 他说古雅典人的调情技巧可能是在一种名为“会饮”的酒会上磨练出来的。在“会饮”中,男士跟跳舞的女士调情,作为一种娱乐消遣的方式。 “我们可以这样认为,雅典人在古代、特别是在柏拉图所描绘的‘会饮’时代完善了自身的调情技巧。” 相关阅读 (中国日报网英语点津 崔旭燕 编辑:陈丹妮) |
Vocabulary: hedonistic: engaged in the pursuit of pleasure; sensually self-indulgent(快乐主义的) banter: friendly remarks and jokes(善意的)玩笑,打趣 eroticism: sexual desire or excitement(情欲过盛;性欲) hone: to develop and improve something, especially a skill, over a period of time 磨练,训练(尤指技艺) symposia: a drinking party or convivial discussion, esp. as held in ancient Greece after a banquet (and notable as the title of a work by Plato)(会饮) perfect: to make something perfect or as good as you can(使完善;使完美;使完备) |