单选题
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When we worry about who might be spying on our private lives, we usually think about the Federal agents. But the private sector outdoes the government every time. It's Linda Tripp, not the FBI, who is facing charges under Maryland's laws against secret telephone taping. It's our banks, not the Internal Revenue Service(IRS), that pass our private financial data to telemarketing firms.
Consumer activists are pressing Congress for better privacy laws without much result so far. The legislators lean toward letting business people track our financial habits virtually at will. As an example of what's going on, consider U.S. Bancorp, which was recently sued for deceptive practices by the state of Minnesota. According to the lawsuit, the bank supplied a telemarketer called Member Works with sensitive customer data such as names, phone numbers, bank account and credit-card numbers, Social Security numbers, account balances and credit limits.
With these customer lists in hand, Member Works started dialing for dollars—selling dental plans, videogames, computer software and other products and services. Customers who accepted a "free trial offer" had, 30 days to cancel. If the deadline passed, they were charged automatically through their bank or credit card accounts. U.S. Bancorp collected a share of the revenues. Customers were doubly deceived, the lawsuit claims. They didn't know that the bank was giving account numbers to Member Works. And if customers asked, they were led to think the answer was no.
The state sued Member Works separately for deceptive selling. The company defends that it did anything wrong. For its part, U.S. Bancorp settled without admit ting any mistakes. But it agreed to stop exposing its customers to nonfinancial products sold by outside firms. A few top banks decided to do the same. Many other banks will still do business with Member Works and similar firms.
And banks will still be mining data from your account in order to sell you financial products, including things of little value, such as credit insurance and credit card protection plans. You have almost no protection from businesses that use your personal accounts for profit. For example, no federal law shields "transaction and experience" information—mainly the details of your bank and credit card accounts. Social Security numbers are for sale by private firms. They've generally agreed not to sell to the public. But to businesses, the numbers are an open book. Self-regulation doesn't work. A firm might publish a privacy-protection policy, but who enforces it?
Take U.S. Bancorp again. Customers were told, in writing, that "all personal information you supply to us will be considered confidential." Then it sold your data to Member Works. The bank even claims that it doesn't "sell" your data at all. It merely "shares" it and reaps a profit. Now you know.

单选题 Contrary to popular belief, the author finds that spying on people's privacy______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】细节题。本题问，在对人们隐私的刺探上作者发现了什么。根据文章第一段：如果我们担心谁会刺探人们的隐私，通常会认为是联邦密探。但是每次都是私营部门胜过了政府。是Linda Tripp正受到电话窃听的控告，是银行把顾客的私人的金融信息透露给电话营销公司。由此可知，对私人的隐私刺探不是政府，而是主要集中在商业领域，所以正确答案为[D]“在商业领域里更普遍”。[A]主要是通过秘密录音；[B]在IRS帮助下被加剧了；[C]是联邦调查局专职在做。
单选题 We know from the passage that______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】推理题。本题问，我们从文章中可以得出什么。根据文章第二段第二句话“The legislators lean toward letting business people track our financial habits virtually at will”可知，正确答案为[D]“立法议员们倾向于让商人几乎是随意地追踪消费者的消费习惯”。[A]立法议员正通过更好的隐私保护法；[B]大多数州对私企的欺骗行为视而不见；[C]明尼苏达州在考虑制定法律保护私人信息。
单选题 When the "free trial" deadline is over, you'll be charged without notice for a product or service if______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】细节题。本题问，免费试用的最后期限结束之后，在什么样的情况下，有可能不会被通知要为某个产品或服务付费。根据第四段第二、三两句“Customers who accepted a…or creditcard accounts”(接受了三十天免费试用的顾客有三十天的时间可以取消服务。如果最后期限过了，顾客就会通过银行或信用卡账号被自动收费)可知，选项[A]“顾客如果在指定期限内不取消服务”为正确答案。[B]“如果你碰巧暴露了你的信用卡号码”；[C]“如果你发现产品或服务不满意”；[D]“如果你没有申请延期”。
单选题 Businesses do not regard information concerning personal bank accounts as private because ______.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】细节题。本题问，企业不把个人银行账号的信息看做是私人信息的原因是什么。根据文章倒数第二段：企业利用你的私人账号获利，你却几乎得不到保护。比如说，没有联邦法律保护“交易和经历”信息——主要是你的银行和信用卡账号的细节。私人公司可以销售社会安全号码，他们一般来说都同意不向公众销售。但是，对企业来说，这些号码是公开的信息。在这个问题上，行业自律是不起作用的。一个公司可以发布隐私保护政策，但是谁去实施呢?”由此可以看出：没有法律保护这些信息，企业是有恃无恐的。所以[B]这些信息被(企业)认为是不被法律保护的“交易和经历”信息为正确答案。[A]在当今保护政策下这种泄露对顾客没有伤害；[C]这些信息被公众认为是公开的秘密；[D]这种出售可以通过自动调节得到控制。
单选题 We can infer from the passage that______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】推理题。本题问可以从文章中推断出什么。综观全文，可以发现，选项[C]“消费者的隐私将继续被侵犯”为正确答案。[B]隐私保护法将很快被执行，[D]免费试用最终将会被禁止，这两项内容文章根本没提到；[A]银行将不得不改变做生意的方式，原文中讲现行法律并不保护消费者的某些交易信息，且立法议员也对企业放任自流，所以银行不会如[A]说的那样，去改变做生意的方式。