2016考研备战进入后期阶段，每天读篇英语时文，既可以保持语感，又能提高阅读水平、锻炼阅读速度，可谓一举多得。今天给大家推荐一篇来自《经济学人》的文章，希望对你有所帮助。

【正文】

One American in three aged 65 or older uses networks, says a new report by the Pew Research Center, a think-tank. But it is the small surfers, not the silver ones, who are currently making waves. Facebook is examining ways to allow children under the age of 13 to use its service, with some form of parental supervision. If this happens—and Facebook stresses that it has not yet decided whether to go ahead—it would be a venture into uncharted territory.

Critics howl that young children lack the maturity to cope with social networks. They also worry that Facebook will find devious ways to make money from naive children, or, more likely, their parents. "We would be giving the keys to the chicken coop to the fox," says Doug Fodeman of ChildrenOnline.org, a pressure group.

There is also the thorny question of how Facebook could comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act(COPPA)in America, which was designed to protect children under 13 as they use the internet. The law stipulates that online services with youngsters among their customers must obtain the consent of the children's parents before collecting data from them. Parents also need to be able to review their children's data and have these delete if they so wish. The onerous nature of these and other COPPA provisions explains why social networks have tended to shun the young. Facebook insists that you have to be 13 to use its service.

The snag is that children fib about their age. A study by Consumer Reports found that 5.6m children under 13 were using Facebook in America alone. Another survey of American parents found that adults often knew that their children were less than 13 when they joined Facebook. In many cases, the parents helped them to set up their accounts.

Regulators have noticed. Facebook's current musings may reflects the fear that the firm will run into trouble if it does nothing. It already has slightly more robust privacy settings for children between the ages of 13 and 17. But it would need a far tighter regime for younger children, says Sarah Downey of Abine, an online consumer privacy company.

【参考译文】

一家名为皮优研究中心的智囊团最近在一篇报告中声称，年龄在65岁及以上的美国人，每三个当中就有一个正在使用社交网络。但他们的行为跟目前低龄的网络弄潮儿相比只是小打小闹。Facebook正在策划如何让13岁以下的儿童在父母某种形式的监督下使用网络。虽然Facebook一再声称暂未确定是否付诸行动，但是一旦采取行动，它将开启一段充满未知因素的冒险旅程。

评论家大声疾呼，称低龄儿童缺乏足够成熟的心智来应付社交网络。同样让他们担心的是，Facebook可能会绞尽脑汁从那些单纯的小孩身上，或者他们的父母身上捞钱。压力团体儿童在线的负责人Doug Fodeman称，“这样做可能是将孩子推向风险，引狼入室”。

另一个棘手的问题是，Facebook该怎样做才算遵守旨在保护13岁以下小孩使用网络的《美国儿童在线隐私保障法》呢?该法律规定对于13岁以下儿童使用互联网服务，服务商在收集其数据前，必须征得相关儿童父母的同意。同时，家长必须能回看自己小孩的数据，而且在其认为有必要时可以删除这些数据。这样费力的任务再加上COPPA的其他条款，很好地解释了为什么社交网络运营商们总是可以地避开低龄群体。Facebook坚持要求，其用户必须年满13岁。

另一个小问题是低龄儿童通过撒谎来隐瞒实际年龄。根据《消费者报告》一项研究提供的数据，仅仅美国地区就有56万13岁以下的儿童正在使用Facebook。而另一项针对美国家长的研究发现，父母通常知道自己的孩子在申请Facebook账号时未满13岁。在众多案例中，倒是家长帮助子女注册了Facebook账号。

相关部门的监管人员也了解到了该现象。Facebook目前的“沉默”可能也反映出他们害怕公司会因为不作为而惹来麻烦。该公司已经针对13~17岁之间儿童用户的隐私设置做出了些许强化。但是来自阿拜恩网络客户隐私权利公司的Sarah Downey认为，针对低龄儿童用户，Facebook还需要大大加强其现有的管理办法。

希望大家读过文章之后能够把握文中的生词和句子，不要只是泛泛地读，让阅读真正落到实处，为你的考试加分!