调查：超过一半的英国人不信任伴侣More than 50% don't trust love partners

Are you one of the "spies"?

A British survey has revealed a nation of spies, rifling through their partners' text messages, tapping phone conversations, tailing loved ones with webcams and even satellite navigation systems, to check their significant others are faithful.

The most favoured way of keeping tabs on a partner is checking their text messages, with more than half (53 percent) of those questioned admitting sneaking a peek.

For young people aged 25 to 34 the number shoots up to a startling 77 percent.

The second most popular way of finding out if a partner has been a love-cheat is to read their e-mails. 42 percent told the UK Undercover Survey that they had carried out such a ploy.

The third is the old-fashioned method of rummaging through a partner's pockets, (39 percent), the survey found this technique was particularly popular with women.

But men weren't in the clear. They prefer to break another great unspoken rule - reading their partner's diary.

And neither is the spoken word safe, with many people admitting to listening on conversations their other halves believed would be confidential.

About one in three (31 percent) of those questioned in the survey, commissioned by the Science Museum in London, for its Science of Spying exhibition, said they covertly listened in on their partner's private conversations.



英国一项调查发现，英国出了一帮“侦察”伴侣是否忠诚的“侦探”，这帮“侦探”所采取的“侦察手段”包括检查对方的短信、偷听电话、用网眼跟踪、甚至用上了卫星定位系统。

其中最常用的手段是检查短信，超过一半（53％）的受访者承认用过此举。

而在25岁至34岁之间的年轻人中，这一比例竟达到了77%。

第二个常用手段是看对方的电子邮件，42%的受访对象在接受此项“英国秘密调查”时表示采用过这种方法。

第三种方法有些老套，就是翻口袋（39％），调查发现，这种方法在女性中尤为常用。

男性在这方面也不例外，他们惯用的方法打破了另一个重要“潜规则”--看对方的日记。

对方说的话也不一定安全，很多受访者承认曾偷听过对方的“秘密”谈话。

约三分之一（31％）的被调查对象说，他们偷听过对方的秘密谈话。这项调查是受伦敦科学博物馆委托、为“侦察科学展览”而开展的。

Vocabulary:
        

tap telephone conversation:偷听电话交谈

rummage: to search thoroughly（翻查；仔细检查）