Facebook Inc. scrambled to fix a software flaw that gave users' unintended access to their friends' private instant messages.
acebook匆忙修复一个软件缺陷。该缺陷让用户可以看到朋友与其他人之间的私密即时通信信息。
The popular Internet hangout Wednesday temporarily shut down its instant-messaging function while it investigated the problem and patched its system.
这家流行社交网站周三临时关闭了即时通信功能，同时对问题进行调查，并对系统予以修复。
The Palo Alto, Calif., company said the bug was caused by an update to its software and was in effect 'for a limited period of time,' which a spokesman described as 'hours.'
Facebook公司总部位于加利福尼亚州帕洛阿尔托。它说，这个问题是软件的一次升级导致的，只持续了一个"有限的时间段"，按一位发言人的说法，就是"数小时"。
The spokesman said the company was still investigating how many users had chats exposed and believes the number is small.
这位发言人说，公司仍在调查有多少用户的聊天信息遭到暴露，并相信只是少数。
'Someone would have to go through multiple steps to see anything -- log-in, go to their privacy settings, use the preview tool, type in a friends name,' he said.
他说，要看到什么东西，必须经过多个步骤──登陆、进入私人设置、使用预览工具、输入朋友姓名。
Facebook has had its fair share of bugs, partly reflecting frequent changes and additions to the company's website. But some incidents have escalated to major embarrassments, because of their potential to allow peeks at personal information that Facebook's users may not have intended to be widely viewed.
Facebook过去也出过不少故障。这些故障在一定程度上反映出网站经常进行更改和添加内容，但某些故障曾让Facebook十分难堪，因为它们可能导致一些私人信息被偷窥，而用户可能本不打算大范围公布这些信息。
In one incident earlier this year, Facebook misrouted the private messages of a small number of users.
今年早些时候，Facebook曾把少数用户的私密通信信息传给了错误的对象。
The incidents don't seem to be affecting the site's growth. Last month, Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said the 400 million-person service was adding users at its fastest-ever rate.
各种故障似乎并没有影响Facebook的增长。上个月，Facebook首席执行长扎克伯格(Mark Zuckerberg)表示，这家已有四亿用户的网站，用户数量还在以史无前例的速度增加。
But the slip-ups could continue to serve as fodder for critics and regulators investigating how Facebook handles its users' data more broadly.
但这些失误，可能会继续成为批评人士和监管层手中的把柄。监管层正在调查Facebook在整体上如何处理用户的数据。
Jessica E. Vascellaro
- instant [´instənt]
a.立即的 n.紧迫；瞬间 (初中英语单词) - wednesday [´wenzdi] n.星期三 (初中英语单词)
- function [´fʌŋkʃən] n.机能；职责 vi.活动 (初中英语单词)
- partly [´pɑ:tli] ad.部分地；不完全地 (初中英语单词)
- frequent [´fri:kwənt] a.常见的，频繁的 (初中英语单词)
- incident [´insidənt] n.小事件；事变 (初中英语单词)
- executive [ig´zekjutiv] a.行政的 n.行政官 (初中英语单词)
- access [´ækses] n.接近；通路；进入 (高中英语单词)
- limited [´limitid] a.有限(制)的 (高中英语单词)
- potential [pə´tenʃəl] n.&a.潜在的；可能的 (高中英语单词)
- temporarily [´tempərərili] ad.暂时地 (英语四级单词)
- privacy [´praivəsi, -pri] n.隐退；独处；秘密 (英语四级单词)
- spokesman [´spəuksmən] n.发言人 (英语六级单词)
- fodder [´fɔdə] n.饲料；创作素材 (英语六级单词)
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