Men are more likely to forget things than women - even though women generally have more to remember like watering the plants.

Around 15 million of us will leave a cup of tea to go cold today while a similar amount will forget where they put the keys to their house or car.

Meanwhile, 12 million go to the shops only to completely forget what they went for - and the same will forget about wet washing in the machine, according to research carried out by National-Lottery¹.co.uk

PIN numbers, passwords and chores such as taking food out of the freezer the night before and charging your mobile phone also featured highly on the list. And more than one in ten admits forgetting to buy a lottery ticket which may have cost them a win.

The study also found men are more likely to forget things than women - even though women generally have more to remember.

Modern hectic² lifestyles and increased workloads³ and pressures as well as modern technology were blamed for the increase in our levels of forgetfulness.

A National Lottery spokesman said: "Brits are busier than ever in their work and personal lives and it seems we just have too much to remember for our crowded minds.

The study found the technology boom has also played a part, leaving us with more gadgets⁴ than ever before to plug in and charge or take care of.

Despite work pressures it is within the home environment where most things are forgotten, such as credit card payments, children's school events or food related things.

The study found one in four people have missed an important appointment and nearly one in five have fallen out with a friend over a forgotten date or event.

It also emerged that despite the number of things we forget only one in four people actually admit they are forgetful.

Women fared much better than men in the report, failing to recall an average of two and a half things every day compared to 3.5 things for men.

现在大约有1500万成年人会把茶放到冷掉而忘了喝，也有数量相近的人会忘记自己把家里或车的钥匙放在哪里了。

此外，根据全国彩票网（National-Lottery.co.uk）的调查，约1200万成年人去商店时会完全忘记自己打算买什么东西，或者会忘记湿衣服还放在洗衣机里。

排在“易忘清单”前列的还有：个人识别号码、密码和一些杂务，例如前一天晚上把食物从冰箱中拿出来，给手机充电等。每十个人中至少有一个人会承认忘记买可能中奖的彩票。

研究还发现男人比女人更健忘，尽管女人要记的东西一般比男人多。

现代忙乱的生活方式、日益繁重的工作负担和压力，还有现代科技是造成我们越来越健忘的原因。

全国彩票的发言人说：“英国人的工作和私人生活越来越忙，我们似乎有太多的东西要记。”

研究发现科技繁荣也是造成我们健忘的原因之一，我们有比以往更多的机件要插入电源、充电或处理。

尽管工作时压力比较大，但是最容易忘事的地方却是在家里，比如结算信用卡款额，孩子学校里的事情或是和与食物相关的琐事。

研究发现每四个人中有一个人会错过一个重要的约会，每五个人中会有一个由于忘记约定时间或失约而与朋友闹翻。

尽管我们忘记的事情如此之多，但是每四个人中只有一个愿意承认他们是健忘的。

在报告中女人的记事能力比男人要好得多，女人平均每天会忘记2.5件事，而男人平均每天则会忘记3.5件事。

Vocabulary:

National Lottery: 英国把彩票分为以下5类：小彩票（Small lotteries）、私人彩票（Private lotteries）、社会彩票（Society lotteries）、地方政府彩票（Local Authority lotteries）和国家彩票（National lottery）。国家彩票是英国的公益彩票（lottery for good causes）。英国国家彩票委员会（The National lottery Commission）监管国家彩票。

fall out with sb.: 与某人闹翻

fare: 进展