精讀金融時報：Facebook泄露你的秘密
滬江小編：對于商界精英們來說，閱讀《金融時報》（Financial Times）幾乎成了每天的必修課。FT文章以分析為主，邏輯嚴(yán)密，經(jīng)常被各類考試用作考題。非常適合學(xué)習(xí)BEC、TOEIC、GRE、GMAT的考生來閱讀、練習(xí)。滬江小編精選FT上的雙語文章，配上獨(dú)家的學(xué)習(xí)指南，從詞匯、短語、句式、文化、翻譯等多方面來解讀，長期堅持，相信會對英語學(xué)習(xí)有所幫助。
原文閱讀：Facebook透露你的“秘密”
The increasing amount of personal information that can be gleaned by computer programs that track how people use Facebook has been revealed by an extensive academic study.
Such programs can discern undisclosed private information such as Facebook users’ sexuality, drug-use habits and even whether their parents separated when they were young, according to the study by the University of Cambridge academics.
In one of the biggest studies of its kind, scientists from the university’s psychometrics team and a Microsoft-funded research centre analysed data from 58,000 Facebook users to predict traits and other information that were not provided in their profiles.
The algorithms were 88 per cent accurate in predicting male sexual orientation, 95 per cent for race and 80 per cent for religion and political leanings. Personality types and emotional stability were also predicted with accuracy ranging from 62-75 per cent.
The study highlights growing concerns about social networks and how data trails can be mined for sensitive information, even when people attempt to keep information about themselves private. Less than 5 per cent of users predicted to be gay, for example, were connected with explicitly gay groups.
Michal Kosinksi, one of the report’s authors, told the Financial Times that the university’s techniques could easily be replicated by companies to infer personal attributes a person did not wish to share, such as sexual orientation or political views: “We used very simple and generic methods. Marketing companies and internet companies could spend much more time and resources, and hence get much higher accuracy than we did.”
The report also revealed some unexpected correlations – such as people who liked ‘curly fries’ having higher IQs, while those who like Facebook’s “Sliding on Floors With Your Socks On” page were unlikely to use drugs.
學(xué)習(xí)指南：
1.Word of the day
replicate:?If you replicate someone's experiment, work, or research, you do it yourself in exactly the same way.??復(fù)制; 重做(試驗(yàn)、工作或研究)
ex:He invited her to his laboratory to see if she could replicate the experiment.
例句：他邀請她到他的實(shí)驗(yàn)室看她能否復(fù)制該實(shí)驗(yàn)。
小編注：replicate和duplicate都意為“復(fù)制”，但兩者不可混用。熟悉各種編輯軟件的同學(xué)也許會發(fā)現(xiàn)，其中使用的都是duplicate，因?yàn)閐uplicate強(qiáng)調(diào)結(jié)果，表示復(fù)制后的兩者完全一樣，而repulicate則強(qiáng)調(diào)過程，指將同一件事（比如實(shí)驗(yàn)）以相同的過程重做一遍。另一個詞repeat也有重做的意思，但并不強(qiáng)調(diào)過程相同。
2.Phrase of the day
sexual orientation: Someone's sexual orientation is whether they are sexually attracted to people of the same sex, people of the opposite sex, or both.?性取向
小編注：同性戀的正式說法是homosexual。細(xì)分之，男性稱為gay，女性稱為lesbian，其他如queer，fairy，queen等稱呼帶有很重的歧視口吻，最好少用為妙。另外，還有一種情況叫bi-sexual（雙性戀），簡稱bi。
3.Sentence of the day
In one of the biggest studies of its kind, scientists from the university’s psychometrics team and a Microsoft-funded research centre analysed data from 58,000 Facebook users to predict traits and other information that were not provided in their profiles.
在這次研究中，來自大學(xué)心理測驗(yàn)團(tuán)隊和微軟公司(Microsoft)資助的一家研究中心的科學(xué)家們共同分析了5.8萬名Facebook用戶的數(shù)據(jù)，以推測其個人資料中并未提供的個人特征和其他信息。在同類研究中，這是規(guī)模最大的研究之一。
小編注：psychometrics解釋為心理測量學(xué)。以ics結(jié)束的名詞，當(dāng)解釋為學(xué)科時，通常為單數(shù)。比如說：Economics（經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)）is a vital subject. 然而當(dāng)他們解釋為學(xué)科以外的意思時則常做復(fù)數(shù)使用。如：The economics（經(jīng)濟(jì)狀況）of the project are still being considered.?
4.Cultural point of the day
社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)：社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)可以說是近幾年最火的東西了，F(xiàn)acebook至2004年上線以來，僅僅幾年內(nèi)飛速發(fā)展，甚至在2010年世界品牌500強(qiáng)超越微軟勇奪第一。然而這幾年，關(guān)于Facebook泄露用戶信息的爭議也從未消停，在一些國家，以Facebook和Twitter為首的社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)甚至因其信息的迅速傳播而成為革命的導(dǎo)火索。在德國，F(xiàn)acebook也因?yàn)椴辉试S使用假名而被政府封殺。但不論如何，社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)的成功已經(jīng)是毫無疑問的事兒了。
5.Translation of the day
The report also revealed some unexpected correlations – such as people who liked ‘curly fries’ having higher IQs, while those who like Facebook’s “Sliding on Floors With Your Socks On” page were unlikely to use drugs.
該報告還揭示出一些出人意料的相關(guān)性。比如說喜歡“扭扭薯?xiàng)l(curly fries)”的人智商更高，而喜歡一個名為“穿著襪子在地板上滑(Sliding on Floors With Your Socks On)”的頁面的人不太可能吸食毒品。?
小編注：while有很多種用法，本句中的while解釋為“而”，是一個并列連詞。根據(jù)上下文，有時while作“正當(dāng)……時候”解釋，引導(dǎo)時間狀語從句。有時也會解釋為“但是（but）”和“雖然（although）”，可以說while的用法是非常靈活的，翻譯時必須看清上下文的邏輯關(guān)系。
