One in three homeowners admit they regularly “spy” on their neighbors, according to a Daily Mail report recently.

    And nearly half say they peek from behind the curtains whenever they hear “goings-on” in their street.

    Almost 50 percent of people surveyed said they could recite the times their neighbors leave and return from work and spot a new car immediately, with a fifth noticing if a stranger visits.

    Noticing parcels being delivered, if a couple argue more than normal or even when the online shopping comes, were other common aspects people knew about those living close by.

    But one in 10 admit they had been caught peering through the windows by their neighbor.

    The study of 2,000 adults — commissioned by Yale as part of National Home Security Month — found that the most common reason given for keeping tabs on the neighbors was “to check if they are all right.”

    For neighbors, even the intimacy of a relationship is common knowledge — over a quarter knew a neighboring couple were having real troubles and one in 10 even know a neighbor currently having an affair.

    Nigel Fisher, from Yale, lead sponsor of National Home Security Month, said: “This shows just how closely the people who live next to us are watching and the things that don’t go unnoticed.

    “However, the results show that where people did admit to keeping tabs on a neighbor it was usually with good intentions of making sure everything’s alright.”

    The study also saw a quarter of people confess to spying on the neighbors at least once a week.

1/3的人都在“监视”邻居

据《每日邮报》近日报道，1/3的屋主承认自己会定期“监视”

邻居。

更有近半数的人说自己只要听到街上有“骚动”就会躲在窗帘后面偷窥外面的情况。

受访的人中几乎一半表示他们能说出邻居出门上班和回家的时间并能一眼看出来邻居是否换了新车，有1/5的受访者表示能察觉到邻居家有陌生人来访。

这还不算什么，邻居签收了包裹，隔壁夫妻俩是不是比平日吵架吵得厉害，甚至网购送到邻居家这些琐事，我们都一清二楚。

不过仅有1/10的受访者承认自己曾被邻居发现自己在窗户边偷看。

这项对2000名成人的调查由耶鲁大学委托进行，是美国全国家庭安全月的活动项目之一。调查发现，当被问到为什么要密切关注邻居的动向时，大家说得最多的理由就是“只是为了看看他们是不是一切安好”。

邻居的婚恋关系甚至也是公开的秘密 — 超过1/4的受访者称自己知道隔壁夫妻是否真的出现了感情危机，1/10的人甚至还知道邻居有外遇。

耶鲁大学的奈杰·费希尔是全国家庭安全月的主要倡导者，他说：“由此可见邻居把我们看得多紧，几乎没什么能逃过他们的眼睛。”

“然而，调查结果显示，大家承认会密切关注邻居，但通常都是出于好心，想确认对方一切都好。”

调查中四分之一的人坦言自己至少一周一次“监视”邻居。

Words to Learn 相关词汇

【监视】

jiānshì

keep tabs on

keep an account of, check on, observe

【亲密关系】

qīnmì guānxì

intimacy

a close, familiar, and usually affectionate or loving personal relationship with another person or group