英語專四閱讀模擬題(1)：別告訴陌生人你的電話

　　The simple act of surrendering a telephone number to a store clerk may not seem harmful--so much so that many consumers do it with no questions asked. Yet that one action can set in motion a cascade of silent events, as that data point is acquired, analyzed, categorized, stored and sold over and over again. Future attacks on your privacy may come from anywhere, from anyone with money to purchase that phone number you surrendered. If you doubt the multiplier effect, consider your e-mail inbox. If it's loaded with spam, it's undoubtedly because at some point in time you unknowingly surrendered your e-mall to the wrong Web site.

　　Do you think your telephone number or address is handled differently? A cottage industry of small companies with names you've probably never heard of--like Acxiom or Merlin--buy and sell your personal information the way other commodities like corn or cattle futures are bartered. You may think your cell phone is unlisted, but if you've ever ordered a pizza, it might not be. Merlin is one of many commercial data brokers that advertises sale of unlisted phone numbers compiled from various sources--including pizza delivery companies. These unintended, unpredictable consequences that flow from simple actions make privacy issues difficult to grasp, and grapple with.

　　In a larger sense, privacy also is often cast as a tale of "Big Brother"--the government is watching you or An big corporation is watching you. But privacy issues don’t necessarily involve large faceless institutions: A spouse takes a casual glance at her husband's Blackberry, a co-worker looks at e-mall over your shoulder or a friend glances at a cell phone text message from the next seat on the bus. while very little of this is news to anyone--people are now well aware there are video cameras and Internet cookies everywhere--there is abundant evidence that people live their lives ignorant of the monitoring, assuming a mythical level of privacy. People write e-mails and type instant messages they never expect anyone to see. Just ask Mark Foley or even Bill Gates, whose e-mails were a cornerstone of the Justice Department's antitrust case against Microsoft.

　　And polls and studies have repeatedly shown that Americans are indifferent to privacy concerns. The general defense for such indifference is summed up a single phrase: "I have nothing to hide." If you have nothing to hide, why shouldn't the government be able to peek at your phone records, your wife see your e-mail or a company send you junk mail? It's a powerful argument, one that privacy advocates spend considerable time discussing and strategizing over.

　　It is hard to deny, however, that people behave different when they're being watched. And it is also impossible to deny that Americans are now being watched more than at any time in history.

　　1. In the first paragraph, the telephone number is cited to show

　　A. many customers didn't keep their privacy confidential.

　　B. it is harmful to give a store clerk a telephone number.

　　C. careless disposal of personal information can be harmful.

　　D. customers should inquire its use when giving telephone numbers to others.

　　2. What do companies like Acxiom and Merlin do?

　　A. Compile telephone directories for businessmen.

　　B. Collect and sell personal information to make a profit.

　　C. Trade commodities like corn on the market.

　　D. Crack down crimes like stealing private information.

　　3. From Paragraph 3, we learn that

　　A. cases of privacy intrusion happen only in large institutions.

　　B. people are quite aware of how their privacy is intruded.

　　C. it is not privacy intrusion when a wife glances at her husband's cell phone.

　　D. Bill Gates' email messages were cited as evidence against him.。

　　4. It can be inferred from the fourth paragraph that the author thinks

　　A. Americans are actually concerned about privacy issues.

　　B. Americans are indifferent to privacy concerns.

　　C. Americans are very frank about privacy concerns.

　　D. Americans are puzzled about privacy concerns.

　　5. Which of the following is the author's viewpoint?

　　A. Never give your private information to anyone.

　　B. People should pay more attention to their privacy issues.

　　C. Do not surrender your email to any website.

　　D. It does no good saying "I have nothing to hide".

　　【文章概要】

　　本文以個人無意泄漏電話號碼和電子郵件為例引出對隱私問題的探討。首段指出簡單無意識地泄漏個人信息的行為可能事后會給自己帶來麻煩;第2段講述某些小 公司利用泄漏個人信息來贏利，使得隱私成為一個棘手的問題;第3段進一步提到隱私問題不一定只涉及大機構(gòu)，隱私在日常生活中就可能有意無意地受到侵犯;第4段講到美國人對隱私問題的態(tài)度及作者對此的看法;第5段作小結(jié)指出美國人正面臨著更多的監(jiān)視。

　　【答案解析】

　　1.[C]細節(jié)判斷題。首段第l句提到泄漏電話號碼的例子，第2、3句指出這一行為可能帶來的麻煩，故選C。A、B本身正確但只停留在例子本身，并沒有指明舉例要表明的問題;D在文中沒有提及。

　　2.[B]細節(jié)推斷題。根據(jù)Acxiom和Merlin定位到第2段第2旬。該句第2個破折號說明了這兩家公司的性質(zhì)，指出他們買賣個人信息就像買賣玉米和牛期貨證券一樣，故選8。文中提到Merlin公司出售那些未登記過的電話號碼，這些號碼匯編來源多樣，A只是利用原文個別單詞設(shè)置的干擾項;文中 只是說這些公司買賣個人信息的方式就像在市場買賣玉米的方式一樣，故C錯;D“破解如竊取個人信息的犯罪行為”在文中沒有提及。

　　3.[D]段落細節(jié)題。由第3段第2句可知A錯誤;由該段倒數(shù)2、3句可知人們對隱私受侵犯并沒有多深的意識，故B也錯：But一句指出隱私問題并不一定只涉及大機構(gòu)，冒號后所列舉的例子即是對此觀點的支持，可見C的說法也是不正確的;末旬指出司法部控告微軟公司就是利用比爾·蓋茨的郵件為證據(jù)，故D正確。

　　4.[A]推理判斷題。第4段第l句指出調(diào)查和研究證明美國人對隱私問題漠不關(guān)心，但根據(jù)后文連續(xù)幾個假設(shè)問句可以推斷出。美國人實際上很關(guān)住他們的隱私問題，故C錯誤;B只是一種表面現(xiàn)象;文中沒有提及他們對隱私的關(guān)注是否“迷惑”，D也不對。

　　5.[B]觀點態(tài)度題。文章首段就提到了隱私無意間的泄漏可能會帶來的麻煩，接下來幾段分別從個人信息被濫用、隱私問題無處不在、美國人對隱私的態(tài)度等方面說明，在當今時代，由于通信技術(shù)的發(fā)達，個人隱私的保護問題越來越復雜.因此人們對隱私問題應給予更多的重視，故選B。A、C說法太過絕對;D項也不能概述作者的觀點。