2014年大学英语六级综合阅读考试试题(四)

大学英语六级综合阅读考试试题(四)

一、Reading Comprehension（共10小题,共80.0分）There are several passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked [A], [B], [C] and [D]. You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. 第1题

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 FBI③, 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 MemberWorks 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, MemberWorks 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 MemberWorks. And if customers asked, they were led to think the answer was no.

The state sued MemberWorks separately for deceptive selling. The company defends that it did anything wrong. For its part, U.S. Bancorp settled without admitting 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 MemberWorks 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.

Contrary to popular belief, the author finds that spying on people's privacy ______.

A is mainly carried out by means of secret taping

B has been intensified with the help of the IRS

C is practiced exclusively by the FBI

D is more prevalent in business circles

【正确答案】：D 【本题分数】：8.0分

【答案解析】

根据第1段的第3、4句话：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. 可知正是琳达·特里普，而不是联邦调查局被指控违反了马里兰州法律禁止秘密电话录音的法律。把我们的私人财务数据传给电话营销公司正是我们的银行，而不是美国国税局。D)符合文意。 第2题

We know from the passage that ______.

A legislators are acting to pass a law to provide better privacy protection

B most states are turning a blind eye to the deceptive practices of private businesses

C the state of Minnesota is considering drawing up laws to protect private information

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