Question

  Gossip moves so quickly that few people have time to cover their ears，even if they want

to. "I hate it when others gossip about me," said Mandy Miraglia, 16, a high school student from California， " but to be honest，gossip with my close friends make me feel I am trusted and belong to the group. " Miraglia is not the only person who feels like that.

    Gossip has long been looked down on as little more than nonsense(废话) and bad manners. But recent research showed that gossip has many positive effects on your social life.

"There has been a trend among people to dislike gossip”，said David Sloan Wilson，a pro?fessor from the     State University of New York in Binghamton，US,"but gossip appears to be a very important form(形式) of behavior in a group of friends, defining their group membership.”

   For 18 months，Kevin Kniffin，from the University of Wisconsin，US，researched the be?havior of 50 people. He found that gossip levels peaked when a sports team included a slacker (懒虫) ，someone who regularly missed practices or showed up late. Other members of the team would soon start to joke about the slacker's shortcomings behind his back,because they think they are bad for the whole team.

   Gossip about the mistakes of senior members helps newcomers rebuild their confidence after a failure. It also helps relieve(释放) social and professional anxiety. Long-term studies show that people around the world devote from a fifth to two-thirds or more of their daily conversation to gossip, and men appear to be just as eager for gossip as women.

It is hard to judge gossip, but it is more powerful than you think. 

(   ) 5. It can be inferred from the research by Kevin Kniffin that        .

   A.gossip sometimes sends away the slacker of a team

   B.gossip is no use to the teamwork at all

   C.gossip sometimes helps newcomers rebuild their confidence

   D.gossip makes people separate with each other 

(   ) 6. It is true about Mandy Miraglia that        .

   A.she hates gossip all the time

   B.she enjoy gossips about others

   C.gossip sometimes makes her feel closer to the friends

   D.her recent study is about the gossip

(   ) 7. What's the writer's attitude about gossip?

   A.He looks down upon the gossip as bad manners.

   B.He thinks highly of making a gossip.

   C.He doesn't want to talk about gossip at all.

   D.He believes that gossip is powerful.

(   ) 8. We can learn from the passage that        .

   A.there will be more and more gossip in the future

   B.gossip will moves slowly and secretly

   C.people may think about gossip from another aspect

   D.sportsmen enjoy gossip more than the other people

Answer 1

5-8 CCDC

B篇讲述了流言的社会影响、人们对流言的态度以及流言最易产生的环境。

5.C逻辑推理题。从文章最后一段可以得知，流言已经有了过去不为人知的作用，即helps newcomers rebuild their confidence after a fail?ure.

6.C细节理解题。文章第二段引号内的描述给出了该答案。

7.D意图揣摩题。作者在文章结尾处说It is hard to judge gossip, but it is more powerful than you think，可见作者赞同重新审视流言，以全新的角度去认识它。

8.C逻辑推理题。从第三、六、七段不难看出，流言的作用不再只是负面的，本文描写的事实必将令读者重新认识gossip,而不是像过去那样鄙视,看不起它。