One in three homeowners admit they regularly 'spy' on their neighbours, it emerged yesterday.

And nearly half say they peek from behind the curtains whenever they hear 'goings-on' in their street。

Almost 50 per cent of people surveyed said they could recite the times their neighbours leave and return from work and spot a new car immediately, with a fifth noticing if a stranger visits。

Noticing parcels being delivered, if a couple argue more than normal or even when the online shopping comes, were other common aspects people knew about those living close by。

But one in ten admit they had been caught peering through the windows by their neighbour。

The study of 2,000 adults – commissioned by Yale as part of National Home Security Month – found that the most common reason given for keeping tabs on the neighbours was 'to check they are all right'。

For neighbours even the intimacy of a relationship is common knowledge - over a quarter knew a neighbouring couple were having real troubles and one in ten even know a neighbour currently having an affair。

Nigel Fisher, from Yale, lead sponsor of National Home Security Month, said: 'This shows just how closely the people who live next to us are watching and the things that don't go unnoticed。

'However, the results show that where people did admit to keeping tabs on a neighbour it was usually with good intentions of making sure everything's alright.'

The study also saw a quarter of people confess to spying on the neighbours at least once a week。

據(jù)英國(guó)《每日郵報(bào)》報(bào)道，有1/3的屋主都承認(rèn)自己會(huì)定期“監(jiān)視”鄰居。

更有近半數(shù)的人說(shuō)自己只要聽(tīng)到街上有“騷動(dòng)”就會(huì)躲在窗簾后面偷窺外面的情況。

受訪的人中幾乎一半表示他們能背出鄰居出門和回家的時(shí)間并能一眼看出來(lái)鄰居是否換了新車，有1/5的受訪者表示能察覺(jué)到鄰居家有陌生人來(lái)訪。

這還不算什么，誰(shuí)簽收了包裹，隔壁夫妻倆是不是吵得更厲害了，甚至于別人網(wǎng)上買的東西什么時(shí)候到這種鄰居家的瑣事，我們都一清二楚。

但是，有1/10的受訪者承認(rèn)自己曾被鄰居抓到過(guò)在窗戶邊兒偷看。

這項(xiàng)對(duì)2000名成人的調(diào)查由耶魯大學(xué)委托進(jìn)行，是美國(guó)全國(guó)家庭安全月(National Home Security Month)的活動(dòng)項(xiàng)目之一。調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn)，當(dāng)被問(wèn)到為什么要密切關(guān)注鄰居的動(dòng)向時(shí)，大家說(shuō)得最多的理由就是“只是為了看看他們是不是一切都好”。

了解鄰居的婚戀關(guān)系甚至也是小菜一碟兒——超過(guò)1/4的受訪者稱自己知道隔壁夫妻倆出現(xiàn)了感情危機(jī)，1/10的人甚至還知道鄰居有外遇。

耶魯大學(xué)的尼格·費(fèi)希爾(Nigel Fisher)是全國(guó)家庭安全月的主要贊助商，他說(shuō)：“由此可見(jiàn)鄰居把我們看得有多緊，幾乎沒(méi)有什么能逃過(guò)他們的眼睛。”

“然而，調(diào)查結(jié)果顯示，大家承認(rèn)會(huì)密切關(guān)注鄰居，但通常都是出于好心想確認(rèn)對(duì)方一切都好。”

調(diào)查中一半人坦言自己會(huì)“監(jiān)視”鄰居且至少一周一次。