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  3. As a new matchmaker, Internet dating sites promise two cutting edges: a vastly greater choice of potential partners and scientif

As a new matchmaker, Internet dating sites promise two cutting edges: a vastly greater choice of potential partners and scientif

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问题     As a new matchmaker, Internet dating sites promise two cutting edges: a vastly greater choice of potential partners and scientifically proven way of matching suitable people together.
    The greater choice is unarguable. But does it lead to better outcomes? And do the "scientifically tested methods" actually work? These are the questions asked by a team of psychologists led by Eli Finkel.
    The researchers’ first observation is how any of the much-boasted partner-matching methods actually works. Many firms preserve their intellectual property as trade secrets, and there is no reason why Internet dating sites should not be among them. But this renders claims of effectiveness impossible to test objectively. There is thus no independent scientific evidence that any of these methods does enhance the chance of their hitting it off when they meet.
    It is possible to test the value of a claim that they match people with compatible personality traits. However, Dr. Dyrenforth asked more than 20,000 people about their relationships and assessed their personalities. Members of couples with similar personalities were indeed happier than those without. But the difference was just 0.5%.
    Surely, the chances of finding that magic other are increased by the second thing Internet dating brings: a multitude of choice. But here, too, things are not as simple as they might seem.
    An assumption behind all consumer decisions is that what people think they want is what they actually need. And the data suggest people are not good at knowing what they want. One of Dr. Finkel’s own studies showed that when they are engaged in speed dating, people’s stated preferences at the beginning of the process do not well match the characters of the individuals they actually like. When faced with abundant choices, people pay less attention to characteristics that require thinking and conversation to evaluate and more to physical matters. Choice, in other words, dulls the critical faculties.
    Finkel’s conclusion is that love is as hard to find on the Internet as elsewhere. You may be just as likely to luck out in the local cafe, or by acting on the impulse to stop and talk to that stranger on the street whose glance you caught, as you are by clicking away with a mouse and hoping that, one day, Cupid’s arrow will strike.
The effectiveness of the dating sites is difficult to verify scientifically because they______.
选项 A、keep their intellectual property secret
B、have two cutting edges
C、adopt strange matching methods
D、are good at deception as evidenced
答案A
解析 文章第三段第二、三句说明，许多公司把知识产权看作是商业秘密，婚介公司也不例外，因此他人无法客观评价这些公司的业绩(effectiveness)。
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