The online economy—from search to email to social media—is built in large part on the fact that consumers are willing to give away their data in exchange for products that are free and easy to use. The assumption behind this trade-off is that without giving up all that data, those products either couldn't be so good or would have to come at a cost.

    But a new working paper, released this week by Lesley Chiou of Occidental College and Catherine Tucker of MIT, suggests that the trade-off may not always be necessary. By studying the effects of privacy regulations in the EU, they attempted to measure whether the anonymization(匿名化) of search data hurts the quality of search results.

    Most search engines capture user data, including IP addresses and other data that can identify a user across multiple visits. This data allows them search companies to improve their algorithms(算法) and to personalize results for the user. At least, that's the idea. To determine whether storage of users' personal data improves search results, Chiou and Tucker looked at how search results from Bring and Yahoo differed before and after changes in the European Commission's rules on data retention(数据保存). In 2008 the Commission recommended that search engines reduce the period over which search engines kept user records. In response, Yahoo decided to strengthen its privacy policy by anonymizing user data after 90 days. In 2010 Microsoft changed its policy, and began deleting IP addresses associated with searches on Bring after six months and all data points intended to identify a user across visits after 18 months. In 2011 Yahoo changed its policy again, this time deciding to store personal data longer—for 18 months rather than 90 days—allowing the researchers yet another chance to measure how changes in data storage affected search results.

    The researchers then looked at data from UK residents' web history before and after the changes. To measure search quality, they looked at the number of repeated searches, a signal of dissatisfaction with search results. In all three cases, they found no statistically significant effect on search result quality following changes in data retention policy. In other words, the decision to anonymize the data didn't appear to impair the search experience. “Our results suggest that the costs of privacy may be lower than currently perceived,” the authors write, though they note that previous studies have come to different conclusions.

    The writings of Shakespeare are today little read by young people in Britain. His young readership is limited to those who choose to study literature at university.

    Shakespeare's work, together with most other classics, is seen as remote, and written in a 400­year­old version of English that is about as inviting as toothache.

    Still, in Britain schools, it is compulsory to study the bard(诗人), and when something is made compulsory, usually the result is boredom, resentment(憎恨) or both.

    This was my experience of the classics at school. But when I reached my late teenage years, I had a change of heart. Like every other young person since the dawn of time, the world confused me. I wanted answers, so I turned to books to find them.

    I went on to take a PhD in literature and have taught it in Britain and China. I have never regretted it. There is something in literature that people want, even if they don't read books. You see this in the popularity of TV and movie adaptations of great works, the recent film version of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice being a case in point. These popular adaptations may help increase people's interest in the classics.

    Reading a simplified Romeo and Juliet may perhaps lead to a reading of Shakespeare's actual play. If that is the case, then I welcome the trend. But do not make the mistake of thinking that it is the same thing. Shakespeare is a poet. His greatness is in his language. Reading someone else's rewriting of his work is like peeling a banana, throwing away the fruit, and eating the skin. Take on the original. It really is worth the effort.

    Michelin inspectors, the super secret spies of the restaurant industry, are the anonymous (匿名的) keepers of the famous Michelin star rating. They've been writing anonymous reports of restaurants for over 100 years.

    “We say it's a little like the CIA,” said inspector “M” with a laugh. She asked that her identity not be revealed. “My whole life is staying under the radar, staying away from cameras, using fake names, trying to steal in and out of restaurants quietly.”

    Along with their boss, Jean Luc Naret, the director of the Michelin Guide, about 90 inspectors around the world decide which restaurants will win the cooking equivalent (等价物) of an Oscar, the Nobel Prize and Megamillions jackpot (百万彩票) all at once. The Michelin Guide covers 23 countries, and out of the 45,000 rated restaurants, less than 100 have the top rating — only nine American restaurants carry three stars.

    If the name “Michelin” brings the tires on your car to mind, you're not too far off. The Michelin rating began in France in 1900 as a marketing trick. The Michelin brothers thought their customers would bum more rubber if given a list of hotels and restaurants to explore.

    Inspector “M” admitted being an inspector leads to a lonely dining life. “Most of the time we dine alone,” she said. “It gives us the ability to really focus on the food and the atmosphere and capture the entire experience.” To cover their tracks, “M” said sometimes two inspectors will dine together and write two separate papers. It's better than saying “table for one”, right?

    “When you're really, really into food and very crazy about food, everything else that's going on around you isn't so important,” she said.

    I stopped to watch my little girl busy playing in her room. In one hand was a plastic phone; in the other a toy. I listened as she was speaking to her make-believe little friend and I'll never forget the words she said, even though it was imagined.

    She said, "Suzie's in the corner because she's not been very good. She didn't listen to a word I said or do the things she should." In the corner I saw her baby doll well dressed. It was obvious that she'd been put there to sit alone and think.

    My daughter continued her "conversation", as I sat down on the floor. She said, "I'm all fed up and I just don't know what to do with her any more. She cries whenever I have to work and wants to play games too. She tries to help me with the dishes, but her arms just cannot reach... And she doesn't know how to fold towels. I don't have the time to teach. I have a lot of work to do and a big house to keep clean. I don't have the time to sit and play - don't you know what I mean?"

    And that day I thought a lot about making some changes in my life, after listening to her innocent words cut me like a knife. I hadn't been paying enough attention to what I hold most dear. I'd been caught up in responsibilities that increased throughout the years.

    But now my attitude has changed because in my heart I realize that I've seen the world in a different light through my little darling's eyes. So let the cobwebs (蜘蛛网) cut the corners and the dust bunny rabbit rule the floor. I'm not going to worry about keeping up with them any more.

    I'm going to fill the house with memories of a child and her mother, for we have only one childhood and we will never get another.

We were about to gather up our things and return to our car when a man came up.He looked very 1 indeed and asked us 2 if we knew that these grounds were his own.Father looked troubled and the man 3 a notice,which said that camping was strictly 4 .My poor father explained that he had not seen the 5 and did not know that camping was not allowed.6 Father apologized,the man did not seem satisfied.He asked Father for his name and 7 .All the way home,we were so 8 that hardly anyone said a word.This 9 thing had spoiled(损害)a wonderful day in the country.

For the rest of the week,we 10 what would happen.The following Sunday,we stayed at home even though it was a 11 day.About noon,a large and very expensive 12 stopped outside our house.We were surprised when we saw several people preparing to have a picnic in our small 13 .Father got very 14 and went to ask them what they thought they were doing.You can imagine how 15 he was when he saw the man who had taken our address the week before!Both men burst out 16 and Father welcomed the strangers into the house.We became good 17 .And we learned a lesson we have never 18 .That's "Don't do to others 19 you don't like to 20 to you."

During my last stay in France, I got used to biking down a quiet road. Round a corner, I 1 a little house. In its yard, there was an elderly woman. I waved at her as I went by, and she must have thought I was some 2 tourist, because she didn't wave back.

The 3 thing happened the second day. But on the third day, the old woman 4 a wave, and by the fourth day, she nearly got out of her chair as I5 to her.

"Good morning, Madam!" It became a small ritual(礼节) between us.

On my last ride there, however, I didn't' t6 the lady there. Back at my house, I told Roger, the gardener, of my missed7

"She has a bad leg and has gone to the hospital for8 , " he said.

"Who is she? "I asked.

"The 9 road used to be a railway, and the lady's husband was once the stationmaster," Roger explained, "Several times a day, 10 a train passed, the couple would see passengers waving to them excitedly. 11 , the station was moved away. Everything is 12 except for this couple. She has 13 the trains and the waves. And you just brought them back to her14 ,"

By reaching out, in a way that cost me nothing, I had given more than I had15 .