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《每日郵報》報道，有1/3的屋主都承認(rèn)自己會定期“監(jiān)視”鄰居。

更有近半數(shù)的人說自己只要聽到街上有“騷動”就會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間并能一眼看出來鄰居是否換了新車，有1/5的受訪者表示能察覺到鄰居家有陌生人來訪。

這還不算什么，誰簽收了包裹，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在窗戶邊兒偷看。

這項對2000名成人的調(diào)查由耶魯大學(xué)委托進行，是美國全國家庭安全月(National Home Security Month)的活動項目之一。調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn)，當(dāng)被問到為什么要密切關(guān)注鄰居的動向時，大家說得最多的理由就是“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1/4的受訪者稱自己知道隔壁夫妻倆出現(xiàn)了感情危機，1/10的人甚至還知道鄰居有外遇。

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

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

調(diào)查中一半人坦言自己會“監(jiān)視”鄰居且至少一周一次。