Record numbers of men and women are on the lookout¹ for secret affairs, as experts claim January 4th is the worst day of the year for infidelity.

英国专家近日表示，1月4日是英国全年的“出轨日”，寻找婚外情的男性和女性人数都创下纪录。

With the stress of Christmas taking its toll² on many relationships, IllicitEncounters.com has reported a surge of activity.

Yesterday 994 unhappily married people decided³ to look for a new love via the UK's leading dating site - more than double the average traffic - and the company predicts even more will sign up today.

It had recruited 650 new members by lunchtime and usage is set to rise by 250 percent.

With the majority of the British public back to work and some feeling fed up after a long and hectic⁴（兴奋的） festive⁵ break, experts says the trend is unsurprising.

Cheating consultant⁶ Rosie Freeman-Jones said: 'Christmas and New Year are times when couples spend an intensive period of time with each other and their families.

'This can be quite claustrophobic（患幽闭恐怖症的） and sometimes leads to a 'cabin fever' situation where both parties feel irritated with each other and underlying⁷ problems are exasperated⁸（激怒，恶化） .

'The 4th of January is typically one of the first days back to work and back to freedom - and spouses¹⁰ take this opportunity to explore all the things they couldn't under the watchful¹¹ eye of their partner.'

She adds that social networking websites have made it easier for people to start discreet¹²（谨慎的） affairs. According to law firm Divorce-Online, Facebook was cited as a reason for a third of divorces last year.

A number of other revealing findings were released as One Poll conducted one of the largest ever surveys on infidelity.

Statistics showed that 18.3 percent of women and 25.4 percent of men have cheated on their current partner at least once.

Away from the internet women tend to strike up relationships with people they already know, such as work colleagues or former flames.

Men on the other hand will head to nightclubs and bars in the hope of finding fleeting¹³（飞逝的） romance with someone other than their spouse⁹.