他她話題:研究發現女性比男性花錢更爲謹慎

It may come as a shock to husbands fond of accusing their wives of frittering the family finances on shoes and handbags, but a study has found that women are in fact better at budgetingthan men.

一項研究發現，女性在花錢方面其實比男性更有計劃，這可能會讓那些總愛抱怨妻子愛買鞋買包的丈夫們感到吃驚。

Women keep track of their spending and are less likely to build up debts through loans and credit cards, according to new research.

這項最新調查表明，女性會記錄自己的開支，而且因貸款和使用信用卡而背上債務的可能性較小。

Men are more prone to ignoring mounting debts and forgetting to pay bills, whereas women chip away at credit card bills with regular repayments, the study found.

調查發現，男性往往不理會越來越多的積壓債務，而且常忘記付賬單，而女性則會按時支付信用卡的賬單。

The survey of 3,000 Britons by Love found that men have an average debt of ￡2,176 on their credit cards compared to ￡1,987 for women. Men tend to spend their money on gadgets and rely on credit to cover the costs, it found.

這項由網站開展的、針對三千名英國人的調查發現，男性信用卡上的平均債務爲2176英鎊，而女性爲1987英鎊。另外，調查還發現，男性愛買配件、器具等一些小玩意，而且喜歡用信用卡支付。

A spokesman for the money management website said the findings gave the lie to accusations that women are irresponsible with their money.

該資金管理網站的一名發言人說，這些發現表明，認爲女性花錢無度的說法是不符合實際的。

"For years, women have been thought of as the big spenders, splashing their cash on clothes," he said.

他說：“多年以來，女性一直被認爲花錢無節制，把很多錢花在買衣服上。”

"But it seems men are gaining their own reputation when it comes to managing their finances while women are learning how to handle their money."

“但在理財方面，男性似乎更有一套，而女性仍在學習之中。”

A quarter of men admitted they often repay credit card bills late or forget them altogether, compared to 17 per cent of women who make the same mistake.

四分之一的男性坦稱，他們經常拖延支付信用卡賬單或乾脆忘記支付，而相比之下，只有17%的女性會犯同樣的錯誤。

Vocabulary:

fritter: to waste time or money on things that are not important 浪費(時間、金錢)；揮霍

budget :to be careful about the amount of money you spend; to plan to spend an amount of money for a particular purpose 謹慎花錢；把……編入預算

chip away: remove or withdraw gradually 逐步瓦解、消除