They have appeared on clothes labels for four decades， each one chosen by international experts for its simplicity and clarity.

Yet for most people， washing instructions might as well be written in Martian.

According to a new poll， nine in 10 people are unable to decipher common symbols used on clothes labels.

Even those who have mastered the difference between a wool and a synthetics wash admit being baffled by the bewildering array of boxes， circles and crosses used to give advice about drying and bleaching.

The findings come from a poll of 2，000 people carried out by YouGov for Morphy Richards. A third of people surveyed said that they recognised none of the six symbols shown， while the only symbol recognised by more than half of people was the iron with a single dot. Around 70 per cent knew it meant \"iron on a low heat\". Just 10 per cent sign knew the sign for \"do not dry clean\"， while only 12 per cent were familiar with \"drip dry only\".

Despite the sexual revolution， women are still more knowledgeable than men. Awareness was highest among 18- to 29-year-old women - for whom taking care of clothes is clearly important.

Chris Lever， from Morphy Richards， said: \"Clothes Care symbols are a unique language， clearly a language that few people in the UK have taken the time to learn.

\"Learning the basics such as which icon represents tumble dry and which represents normal wash would go a long way to getting the best out of clothes.\"

The Home Laundering Consultative Council， which promotes symbols， said it was not surprised to learn that people were unfamiliar with them.

\"It's disappointing that there is a lack of recognition， but it's a story that's repeated time and time again，\" said a spokesman， Adam Mansell. \"We are a small organisation and we don't have a big budget.\"

這些標(biāo)志已經(jīng)在服裝標(biāo)簽上出現(xiàn)了40年，每一個(gè)標(biāo)志都因其簡(jiǎn)單易懂被國(guó)際上的專(zhuān)家們精心挑選出來(lái)。

然而，英國(guó)近日的一份調(diào)查顯示，大多數(shù)人認(rèn)為，這些衣物洗滌標(biāo)志就像外星人的語(yǔ)言一樣難懂。

據(jù)英國(guó)《每日電訊報(bào)》9月10日?qǐng)?bào)道，英國(guó)民調(diào)機(jī)構(gòu)YouGov近日對(duì)2000人進(jìn)行調(diào)查后發(fā)現(xiàn)，90％的人不明白服裝標(biāo)簽上這些常見(jiàn)的洗滌標(biāo)志的含義，即便是那些熟悉羊毛和晴綸制品不同洗滌方式的人也承認(rèn)搞不清楚這些幾何圖形的意思。

三分之一的被調(diào)查者表示，對(duì)于調(diào)查中給定的6個(gè)洗滌標(biāo)志，他們一個(gè)也看不懂。而被半數(shù)以上的人認(rèn)識(shí)的標(biāo)志是那個(gè)熨斗中帶1個(gè)圓點(diǎn)的圖案，70％的被調(diào)查者知道它表示“低溫熨燙”。此外，10％的人認(rèn)出了“不可干洗”的標(biāo)志，而認(rèn)得“只可滴干”標(biāo)志的人有12％。

調(diào)查表明，女性認(rèn)知衣物洗滌標(biāo)志的能力比男性強(qiáng)，特別是那些年齡在18歲至29歲的女性，原因是該年齡段的女性在日常生活中較注重衣物的保養(yǎng)。

調(diào)查負(fù)責(zé)人里弗指出：“衣物洗滌標(biāo)志像一門(mén)獨(dú)特的語(yǔ)言。很明顯，幾乎沒(méi)有幾個(gè)英國(guó)人曾花時(shí)間去學(xué)習(xí)了這門(mén)語(yǔ)言。其實(shí)用心了解一些常見(jiàn)標(biāo)志的基本含義，如哪個(gè)是“轉(zhuǎn)籠干燥”，哪個(gè)又是“普通手洗”，對(duì)我們保養(yǎng)服裝大有幫助?！?/p>