PREP 2-Q82

shuxuehai

In a blow to those who still harbored the illusion that E-mail exchanges are private, a watchdog group recently uncovered a trick for enabling an interloper to rig an E-mail message so that this person will be privy to any comments that a recipient had added as the message is forwarded to others or sent back and forth.

 

(A) who still harbored the illusion that E-mail exchanges are private, a watchdog group recently uncovered a trick for enabling an interloper to rig an E-mail message so that this person will be privy to any comments that a recipient had added

(B) who had still been harboring the illusion that E-mail exchanges are private, a watchdog group recently uncovered a trick for enabling an interloper to rig an E-mail message so that this person was privy to any comments that a recipient might have added

(C) who still were harboring the illusion that E-mail exchanges are private, a watchdog group recently uncovered a trick enabling an interloper to rig an E-mail message so that this person is privy to any comments that a recipient would add

(D) still harboring the illusion that E-mail exchanges are private, a watchdog group recently uncovered a trick that enables an interloper to rig an E-mail message so that this person will be privy to any comments that a recipient might add

(E) still harboring the illusion that E-mail exchanges had been private, a watchdog group recently uncovered a trick that will enable an interloper to rig an E-mail message so that this person was privy to any comments that a recipient might add

Could someone translate this sentence? What does it mean actually?

The correct answer is D.

ppbbwenjun

This question is all about tense -- the phrase after the underlined part of the sentence indicates present tense (message IS forwarded), and only D uses present tense.

shuxuehai

Then why "uncovered a trick"?

h5641

(A) who still harbored the illusion that E-mail exchanges are private, a watchdog group recently uncovered a trick for enabling an interloper to rig an E-mail message so that this person will be privy to any comments that a recipient had added

-> Who are ...., will be...had added  (時態不平衡)

(B) who had still been harboring the illusion that E-mail exchanges are private, a watchdog group recently uncovered a trick for enabling an interloper to rig an E-mail message so that this person was privy to any comments that a recipient might have added

-> Who had been ...., was...might have added  (時態不平衡)

(C) who still were harboring the illusion that E-mail exchanges are private, a watchdog group recently uncovered a trick enabling an interloper to rig an E-mail message so that this person is privy to any comments that a recipient would add

-> a trick enabling.... 句意不清楚

(D) still harboring the illusion that E-mail exchanges are private, a watchdog group recently uncovered a trick that enables an interloper to rig an E-mail message so that this person will be privy to any comments that a recipient might add

-> ... are ...., will be...might add  (時態平衡)

(E) still harboring the illusion that E-mail exchanges had been private, a watchdog group recently uncovered a trick that will enable an interloper to rig an E-mail message so that this person was privy to any comments that a recipient might add

-> had been, ...that will... was...might add  (句意時態很怪)