A man walks along the Albert Embankment in the rain in central London, 2009. According to a survey famously weather-obsessed British people spend on average six months of their lives talking about whether it's going to rain or shine.

　　Famously weather-obsessed British people spend on average six months of their lives talking about whether it's going to rain or shine, according to a survey published Friday.

　　Speculation about whether it's going to be wet, complaints about the cold and exclamations about the heat are also the first points of conversation with strangers or business acquaintances for 58 percent of Britons, it said.

　　The study of 2,018 adults by pollsters ICM found Britons talk about the weather for about 49 hours every year and the subject comes up more often than work, TV, sport or gossip.

　　Nineteen percent of over 65s questioned also believe they can predict the weather as well as a professional weatherman.

　　The most usual explanation for the fascination with weather is that it is so changeable here -- although this doe not explain why other meteorologically-challenged countries are not similarly interested.

　　Whatever the reason, "these findings prove that we really are a nation obsessed by our climate," said Paul Llewellyn of Lloyds TSB Insurance, which commissioned the poll.

　　上周五公布的一项调查显示，以关心天气而著称的英国人一生中平均有六个月的时间在谈论将要下雨还是出太阳。

　　调查称，58%的英国人在与陌生人或生意伙伴交谈时首先会讨论一番是否会下雨或抱怨感叹一通天气的冷热。

　　这项由ICM民意调查机构开展的调查共有2018名成年人参加。调查发现，英国人每年谈论天气的时间约为49个小时，而且这一话题比工作、电视、运动或八卦更常出现。

　　在65岁以上的受访者中，有19%的人还认为自己能像专业天气预报员一样预测天气。

　　英国人之所以如此关注天气，最通常的解释是英国天气的多变，但这无法解释为什么其他天气多变的国家的民众没有同样的兴趣。

　　委托开展该调查的英国劳埃德保险集团的保罗•卢埃林说，不管是什么原因，“这些发现证明英国人的确很关注天气变化”。