導(dǎo)語：　英國家庭每年接到大約十億個(gè)騷擾電話，許多老人甚至“都不敢接電話”。你知道騷擾電話的英語怎么說嗎

　　Up to one billion nuisance calls are received by British families each year, leaving many elderly people "too scared to answer the phone".

　　Culture Minister Ed Vaizey said nuisance calls were a "plague" on families and had to stop.

　　The Government's Nuisance Calls Task Force said new rules should be introduced to make company bosses responsible for cold-callers causing "severe distress" to families.

　　Under the plan, Payment Protection Insurance cold-callers could face fines of up to 20 per cent of their annual turnover.

　　英國家庭每年接到大約十億個(gè)騷擾電話，許多老人甚至“都不敢接電話”。

　　文化部長(zhǎng)艾德·維濟(jì)將這些騷擾電話比作一場(chǎng)急需制止的“瘟疫”。

　　政府成立的“騷擾電話調(diào)查小組”表示，應(yīng)該出臺(tái)新規(guī)讓那些對(duì)人們生活帶來“嚴(yán)重騷擾”的推銷公司付出代價(jià)。

　　受這項(xiàng)規(guī)定的影響，“支付保障險(xiǎn)”的電話推銷員將面臨高額罰款，處罰金額高達(dá)年?duì)I業(yè)額的20%。

　　【講解】

　　文中的nuisance call就是“騷擾電話”的意思，其中nuisance是名詞，意為“騷擾行為;討厭;妨害”，如：make a nuisance(惹人討厭)，smoke nuisance(煙霧公害)?？谡Z表達(dá)中，What a nuisance!則表示“真討厭;多煩人啊”的意思。

　　第二段中的plague作名詞，意為“瘟疫;禍患”，如：Plague was then prevailing in that city.(當(dāng)時(shí)瘟疫正在該城流行。);也可以作動(dòng)詞，意為“困擾，折磨”，如：plague with doubts and fears(為疑慮和恐懼所困擾)