2015考研英语阅读非常非常私人的理财问题_大学英语阅读

2015考研英语阅读非常非常私人的理财问题

　　The technology is not perfect. For some predictions it cannot beat a blood test. But manualunderwriting with medical tests can cost hundreds of dollars and, according to one estimate,drags on for an average of 42 days in America and Europe. That gives potential customersample time to talk to a competitor or walk away. Automated underwriting can cost a tenth asmuch and be done once a human reviews the software s recommendation.

　　这项技术也并不完美。有时，预测结果的准确性甚至不如血液测试。但是手工利用医学测验来核对保单可耗费数百美元，而据估计在美国和欧洲这个过程更可拖沓长达42日之久。这就给潜在的消费者足够的时间去与竞争者谈业务或者干脆不办了。自动测试较之只需十分之一的成本，并且工作人员审阅软件报告后，整个过程就完成了。

　　Insurers interest in data mining will only grow, says Kevin Pledge, the boss of InsightDecision Solutions, an underwriting-technology consultancy based near Toronto. He hasinvestors interested in a project to develop software to comb Facebook and Twitter forpromising sales leads: a woman proud of her pregnancy might want to buy life insurance,for example. Insurance firms will also analyse grocery purchases for clues aboutpolicyholders, he predicts. But that raises some sticky questions about privacy. Mr Pledgehimself has begun to forgo his supermarket loyalty-card discount on junk food and pay forhis burgers in cash. Promising as data mining is, much will depend on how regulators, andconsumers, react.