单选题 It is an open secret in the tech world that Google and Facebook are hardly the best of friends. But now their relations are going to sink to a new low. According to numerous reports appearing today, Burson-Marsteller, a public-relations company working for Facebook has been urging bloggers and journalists to write scathing pieces about the way in which Social Circle, a Google offering that lets users share search results and other stuff with their friends, violates users' privacy. The Financial Times's website quotes Burson-Marsteller as saying that Facebook had asked the PR fill not to reveal who it was working for. The agency admitted that agreeing to this "was not at all standard operating procedure and is against our policies, and the assignment on those terms should have been declined. " USA Today is carrying the same statement from the PR fill.
There is no shortage of irony in all this. It is true that Google hardly has a stellar track record on privacy matters. The company's Google Buzz social network came under fire when it was launched for using people's Gmail contacts without their permission. And Google found itself in the middle of another stink when its Street View street-mapping service was caught "sniffing" (accidentally, Google has claimed) data from unprotected Wi-Fi networks. In March the film reached a settlement with America's Federal Trade Commission that requires it to submit to regular external audits of its approach to privacy issues.
But Facebook is no angel either on privacy matters. In particular, it got its fingers badly burnt with its Beacon service, which shared people's activities on the web with their contacts. This case eventually led to Facebook having to cough up millions of dollars to resolve litigation brought against it for violating their privacy. It has also been bashed repeatedly by privacy activists for using default settings in its privacy controls that mean users' data is automatically shared broadly over the web unless they change them.
Indeed, Facebook's reputation is arguably even worse than Google's in this area—which may explain why, rather than concentrating on improving its own act, it has chosen to pay third parties to take a pop at Google instead. This Babbage's coverage of Facebook's shortcomings (e. g. here) may explain why Burson-Marsteller left him off its call list. It is possible that Google may have some questions to answer about Social Circle's approach to data-sharing. But for now, it is Facebook that has egg all over its face.

单选题 Why does Facebook prefer to hit Google with the help of a third party?
A. Because Burson-Marsteller is prestigous as a third party.
B. Because Facebook's fame is no better than Google.
C. Because Google is an enemy of Burson-Marsteller in the field of high-tech.
D. Because Facebook is not capable of taking a hit on Google.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 考查对前后文的整体理解，文章第一段就引出了Burson-Marsteller机构为Facebook效力去抨击Google旗下的一种应用软件，而对于为什么Facebook要通过第三方来抨击Google而不是自己去抨击，文章最后一段第一句给出了答案"Facebook's reputation is arguably even worse than Google's in this area"，可知Facebook本身的名声也不好，它对Google的抨击对公众没有信服力，所以才选择了第三方Burson-Marsteller，答案显然选B。
单选题 The word "declined" (Line 8, Paragraph 1 ) is closest in meaning to ______.
A. decreased B. eliminated C. rejected D. canceled
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 上文谈到脸谱网要求博雅公关公司不得泄露公司的服务对象。本句谈到公司也承认这种做法“不合标准的操作规程，有违我们的政策，这样条款的安排本就应该______”。从搭配也可以看出，Burson-Marsteller对这种安排既不能decreased(减少)，也不能eliminated(根除，淘汰，省略)，更不可能canceled(取消)，只能是拒绝，与rejected吻合，故选C。
单选题 What conclusion can we draw from this passage?
A. For the problem of Social Circle, Google has already found the way to solve it.
B. Google will pay millions of dollars to make up for "sniffing" data from unprotected Wi-Fi networks.
C. As long as users change the default settings correctly, their data will not be shared automatically on the web.
D. Privacy problem widely exists in tech world and there is no efficient way to curb it.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 推断题。考查的是对文章细节的把握。由第三段最后一句可知C正确。从最后一段中的“Google may have some questions to answer about Social Circle's approach to data-sharing”可知，对于“Social Circle”还有一些问题有待解决，现在并没有解决，故排除A；作者只是在说Google有一种提供街拍的服务被发现是"sniffing" data from unprotected Wi-Fi networks，但并没有提到怎么样去处理这种行为，由第三段可知，pay millions of dollars是对Facebook的惩罚，故排除B；对于D，则以偏概全了，文章只提到了Facebook和Google两家公司有侵犯隐私的现象，对整个科技界的情况并没有说明。
单选题 How should we understand the first sentence of Paragraph 2 (There is no shortage of irony in all this) ?
A. Facebook's assignment with PR firm is ridiculous.
B. All the Google's offerings are full of sarcastic.
C. The news media was looked down upon.
D. Google once violated users' privacy as well.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 对于这种提问单个句子的题，要回到句子所在的段落，联系上下文进行分析。上文刚说完Facebook雇用公关公司来抨击Google侵犯用户隐私的事情。紧接着这一句说“It is true that Google hardly has a stellar track record on privacy matters”，显然“It is true”是在肯定上文的一件事，而由that引出的从句是在说Google在隐私问题方面早有前科，因此选择D项。由此也可以知道讽刺的不是Facebook，也不是媒体的言论，而是Google公司早就有过的侵犯用户隐私的不良记录。所以A、C错。而对于B项，作者讽刺的是Google的不良前科，而不是在说Google所有的服务项目。
单选题 What is the author's attitude towards Facebook?
A. Supportive. B. Skeptical. C. Critical. D. Impartial.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 考查作者态度题。需要对全篇文章的基调以及作者的语气进行全面分析。文章中最后一段第一句中的"…rather than concentrating on improving its own act, it has chosen to pay third parties to take a pop at Google instead"可以看出，出现侵犯隐私的问题后，Facebook不是想办法解决或反省自己，而是雇用第三方对Google进行抨击，一个“rather than”语言色彩就很强烈，而最后一句"it is Facebook that has egg all over its face"则有一种对Facebook偷鸡不成蚀把米的讽刺，由此都可以看出作者的态度，是在批判Facebook的错误做法。故选C项。