The current state of affairs may have been encouraged – though not justified – by the lack of legal penalty (in America, but not Europe) for data leakage. Until California recently passed a law, American firms did not have to tell anyone, even the victim, when data went astray. That may change fast: lots of proposed data-security legislation is now doing the rounds in Washington, D.C. Meanwhile, the theft of information about some 40 million credit-card accounts in America, disclosed on June 17th, overshadowed a hugely important decision a day earlier by America’s Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that puts corporate America on notice that regulators will act if firms fail to provide adequate data security。
评析：这篇文章的核心概念即“数据泄漏，因此要保护数据”。第一段提出文章主题，第二段描述问题现象，第三段说明要保护，第四段提出信任与数据保护的关系，trust成为段落中心词，末段提出要立法解决，legal成为段落中心词。
36. The statement “It never rains but it pours” is used to introduce
[A] the fierce business competition。
[B] the feeble boss-board relations。
[C] the threat from news reports.[D] the severity of data leakage。
评析：本题答案D。谚语的目的自然是引出主题，找含有核心概念的选项即可。
38. In bringing up the concept of GASP the author is making the point that
[A] shareholders’ interests should be properly attended to。
[B] information protection should be given due attention。
[C] businesses should enhance their level of accounting security。
[D] the market value of customer data should be emphasized。
评析：本题答案B。提出GASP，自然是证明主题“数据保护”。注意D选项虽有data，但其重心落在the market value上面，偏离主题。
39. According to Paragraph 4, what puzzles the author is that some bosses fail to
[A] see the link between trust and data protection。
[B] perceive the sensitivity of personal data。
[C] realize the high cost of data restoration。
[D] appreciate the economic value of trust。
评析：本题答案A。作为事实细节题要定位段落，A选项既含有段落中心词，又含有文章核心概念，体现了细节题既要服从段落主题，又要服从文章主题的原则。
40. It can be inferred from Paragraph 5 that
[A] data leakage is more severe in Europe。
[B] FTC’s decision is essential to data security。
[C] California takes the lead in security legislation。
[D] legal penalty is a major solution to data leakage。
评析：本题答案D。原因同39题一样。
新东方考研英语阅读名师 吴洋
