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 company, 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 it
B．its importance is hardly understood
C．It is something that can easily be lost
D．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 shortcomings.
