Britain has always been known as a nation that loves a tipple. But the latest Office for National Statistics lifestyle survey suggests this may be coming to an end.

　　英国是一个以爱好烈酒而闻名的国家。但英国国家统计局最新的生活方式调查显示，这种热爱可能要结束了。

　　The 2016 poll of nearly 8,000 Britons found just under 60% had had a drink in the past week - the lowest rate since the survey began in 2005.

　　2016年将近8000名英国人参与的投票显示，只有不到60%的人有在过去一周饮酒——这是自从2005年开始这项调查后，比例最低的一次。

　　Of those who had not had a drink, half were teetotallers.

　　而那些没有饮酒的，有一半是滴酒不沾的人。

　　Graph on alcohol consumption over the years

　　近年酒精消费量柱状表

　　喝酒的人真的在减少吗?

　　One of the problems with the ONS survey is that it is based on people’s own recollections - and it is well known that we are terrible for underestimating our drinking.

　　英国国家统计局的调查存在的问题之一就是——它是基于人们自己的回忆的——而众所周知，我们常常会低估自己的饮酒量。

　　But there is evidence to be found elsewhere that the fall in alcohol consumption is real.

　　不过，酒精消费量的减少在别处也能找到确凿证据。

　　The findings chime with a much longer running source - the British Beer and Pub Association’s data on the sales of pure alcohol.

　　他们的调查结果同英国啤酒与酒吧协会进行的有关纯酒精销售额的长期调查数据结果是一致的。

　　The young are not big drinkers

　　年轻人都不是酒徒

　　There are a variety of reasons that have been put forward for this trend - and to understand them you need to look at who is drinking and who is not.

　　对于这个趋势，人们提出了很多解释——而要去理解它们，你需要知道谁有在饮酒，谁没有饮酒。

　　And this is where the ONS data is particularly useful.

　　而这就是国家统计局的数据找到用武之地的地方了。

　　Perhaps surprisingly, young people are not the biggest drinkers - in fact, they are among the age groups least likely to have consumed alcohol in the past week.

　　或许令人很意外的是，年轻人并不是最大的饮酒群众——事实上，在过去一周中，他们是所有年龄层中饮酒可能性最小的人群。

　　Fewer than half of people aged 16 to 24 had had a drink, compared with nearly two-thirds of those aged 45 to 64.

　　16到24岁的人群中，只有一半不到的人有喝过酒，相较于45到64岁的人群中，有三分之二的人有喝酒。

　　Various reasons have been put forward for this - from the recession, changes in technology and globalisation making the work place more competitive for young people to the rise of social media allowing online socialising rather than meeting for a quick drink in the pub.

　　人们对这种状况提出了很多解释——从经济衰落，科技的变化，全球化使得年轻人工作岗位竞争更大，到社交媒体的崛起让网络社交比在酒吧碰面小酌一杯更加便捷。

　　Immigration is also likely to be a factor - drinking rates tend to be lower in areas with high levels of ethnic diversity.

　　移民也可能是因素之一——饮酒率在人种多样的地区会更低。

　　Baby boomers are the ones at risk

　　婴儿潮时期出生的人(出生于1946到1964年期间的人)正面临着危险

　　A major part of the increase in drinking from the 1960s onwards has been driven by the rise in boozing at home - twice as much alcohol is now bought from shops than is purchased in bars, pubs and restaurants.

　　在1960年或更早前出生的人们在饮酒方面的增加很大一部分是受在家饮酒的增长驱动的——在超市买的酒精已经是在酒吧和酒馆中购买量的两倍了。

　　This form of alcohol consumption is more common in the older age groups and explains why the most frequent drinkers are the middle-aged, particularly those among high income groups.

　　这种形式的酒精消费在老一些的年龄层中越发普遍了，而这也解释了为什么最常饮酒的人是中年人，特别是那些有着高收入的人群。

　　Higher earners drink more

　　高收入人群饮酒更多

　　在过去的一周里，那些工资不低于40,000英镑的饮酒人群比工资在10,000英镑到15,000英镑的人群饮酒的概率高了50%。

　　A third of the men aged 45 to 64 and a quarter of the women had been binge drinking in the past week, the ONS survey showed.

　　国家统计局的报道显示，45岁到64岁之间的人中，三分之一的男性和四分之一的女性在过去的一周里有过疯狂饮酒的行为。

　　Dr Tony Rao, co-chairman of the older people’s substance misuse working group at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, believes these figures should act as a "wake-up call" to the drinking habits of the baby boomers.

　　皇家精神科医师学会老年人药物滥用工作组的联合主席Dr Tony Rao认为这些数据应该成为婴儿潮出生人群的“醒酒钟”。

　　He says: "Alcohol abuse is not a young person problem."It is a problem in older age groups, and that’s not going to go away."

　　他表示，“酒精滥用并不是年轻人的问题，它是在较大年龄人群中的问题，而这个问题并不会消失。”

（编辑：何莹莹）