Someday a stranger will read your e-mail without your permission or scan the website you’ve visited or perhaps someone will casually glance through your credit card purchases or cell phone bills to find out your shopping calling habits
In fact, it’s likely that some of these things have already happened to you. Who would watch you without your permission? It might be a spouse, a girlfriend, a marketing pany, a boss, a cop or a criminal. Whoever it is, they will see you in a way you never intended to be seen.
Psychologists tell us boundaries are healthy, that it’s important to reveal yourself partly to friends, family and lovers at appropriate times. But few boundaries remain. The digital bread crumbs you leave everywhere make it easy for strangers to know who you are, where you are and what you like. In some cases, a simple Google search can reveal what you think. Like it or not, increasingly we live in a world where you simply cannot keep a secret.
The key question is: Does that matter?
For many Americans, the answer apparently is “no”.
When opinion polls ask Americans about privacy, most say they are concerned about losing it. 60 percent of respondents say they feel their privacy is “slipping away, and that bothers me”.
But people say one thing and do another. Only a small number of Americans change any behavior in an effort to preserve their privacy. Few people turn down a discount at tollbooths to avoid using the EZ-Pass system that can track automobile movements. Privacy economist Acquisti has run a series of tests that reveal people will give up personal information like social security numbers just to get their hands on a 50-cents-off coupon. But privacy does matter－at least sometimes. It’s like health: when you have it, you don’t notice it. Only when it’s gone do you wish you’d done more to protect it.
【小题1】What would psychologists advise on the relationships between friends?A．Friends should open their hearts to each other.B．Friends should always be faithful to each other.C．There should be a distance even between friends.D．There should be fewer arguments between friends.【小题2】Why does the author say “we live in a world where you simply cannot keep a secret”?A．Modern society has finally developed into an open society.B．People leave traces around when using modern technology.C．There are always people who are curious about others’ affairs.D．Many search engines profit by revealing people’s identities.【小题3】According to the passage, privacy is like health in that .A．people will make every effort to keep itB．its importance is hardly understoodC．It is something that can easily be lostD．people don’t value it until they lose it【小题4】What would be the best title for the passage?A．Value your health.B．Treasure your privacy.C．Boundaries are important between friends.D．The information age has its own shortings.C
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(答案→)C
解析：这篇材料讲的是信息时代的隐私保护问题，大体可以分成两个部分，前三段是信息时代隐私遭到泄露的现状，后面几段讲的是人们保护隐私的现实情况。
【小题1】这是细节理解题。根据Psychologists tell us boundaries are healthy, that it’s important to reveal yourself partly to friends, family and lovers at appropriate times.向朋友敞开心扉是重要的，但必须是在适当的时候，故选C。
【小题2】这是细节理解题。A的说法非常空泛，也很武断，第三段的内容仅仅是人们进行电脑等操作会泄露信息，把这种个别现象上升为社会变革显然不合适，也不是作者的意图。
B的说法符合文意，modern technology应该就是指文中的digital bread和Google。
C的说法来源于for strangers to reconstruct who you are这一句，这句话透露出的信息仅仅是陌生人获得个人隐私更加容易，至于是否总会有人对别人的事情感兴趣则没有提到。
D的说法照应文中有关Google的内容，但文中没有提到搜索引擎获利问题，可以排除D。故选B。
【小题3】这是细节理解题。根据But privacy does matter- at least sometimes. It’s like health; when you have it, you don’t notice it. Only when it’s gone do you wish you’d done more to protect it——直译为：“隐私是有关系的，至少是某些时候。它就像健康，在你拥有它时，你注意不到它。只有当它离你而去时你才想要是更注意地保护过它就好了。”这段话无论从句法结构还是词汇难度上都很容易，也没有出现体现独特英语思维的比喻等修辞，所以理解起来较为轻松，故选D。
【小题4】这是标题归纳题。根据从文章的开头和结尾可知，要重视隐私，故选B。