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① In his book The Tipping Point, Malcolm Aladuell argues that “social epidemics” are driven in large part by the actions of a tiny minority of special individuals, often called influentials, who are unusually informed, persuasive, or well connected. ②The idea is intuitively compelling, but it doesn’t explain how ideas actually spread。

【考点分析】① 因果常考(driven)，出31题[A]。Malcolm Aladuell 的观点“社会流行的东西在很大程度上是有一小部分有影响力的人发动的，这些人见多识广，有说服力” ②转折常考，出31题[B]。 “这个观点不能解释思想是如何传播的”。要注意：ideas actually spread= social epidemics 这就意味着作者认为influential对how ideas actually spread作用不大，不起driven(驱动)的作用。

31. By citing the book The Tipping Point, the author intends to __________。

[A]analyze the consequences of social epidemics

[B]discuss influentials’ function in spreading ideas

[C]exemplify people’s intuitive response to social epidemics

[D]describe the essential characteristics of influentials。

【正确选项解析】[B] 本题是说明作者目的题。由上文②的分析可知选本选项。

【干扰选项分析】[A] 与原文相反。本文讨论的是原因(driven)，而本题是说结果(consequence)。

[C] 本段没有提到人们的直觉的反应(intuitive response)。②只是说“作者认为这个观点从直觉上看是吸引人的”。所以无中生有

[D]偏离中心：influential对social epidemics的作用。只是①中的细节。

①The supposed importance of influentials derives from a plausible-sounding but largely untested theory called the “two-step flow of communication”： Information flows from the media to the influentials and from them to everyone else. ② Marketers have embraced the two-step flow because it suggests that if they can just find and influence the influentials, those select people will do most of the work for them. ③The theory also seems to explain the sudden and unexpected popularity of certain looks, brands, or neighborhoods. ④In many such cases, a cursory search for causes finds that some small group of people was wearing, promoting, or developing whatever it is before anyone else paid attention. ⑤Anecdotal evidence of this kind fits nicely with the idea that only certain special people can drive trends.

【考点分析】①因果常考(derive from)+转折常考(but)+否定常考(untested)+段首常考+特殊标点常考(冒号)，出32题。请看supposed在《牛津高阶英语词典》的英文解释 [only before noun] used to show that you think that a claim, statement or way of describing sb/sth is not true or correct, although it is generally believed to be。这就意味着supposed后面的东西在本质上都是作者反对的。“这种influential的假象的重要性来源于一个貌似合理但是实质上未经检验的two-step flow of communication的理论”。②讲商人接受了这一错误观点。③中的seems ④中的cursory search(草率的搜索) ⑤中的Anecdotal evidence(传闻的证据)这几个词组都表明作者对这个理论持反对态度。

32. The author suggests that the “two-step flow theory” __________。

[A]serves as a solution to marketing problems

[B]has helped explain certain prevalent trends

[C]has won support from influentials

[D]requires solid evidence for its validity

【正确选项解析】[D]由①可知这个理论是未经检验的(untested)，这就意味着“需要可靠的证据证明其有效性”(requires solid evidence for its validity)。所以本题是同义替换之正话反说。

【干扰选项分析】[A]与作者对该理论的反对态度矛盾。

[B] ③这个理论似乎(seems)可以解释某些流行的趋势，seem这个词表明作者其实是反对这个说法的。

[C]偷换概念，偷换了②中的marketer

①In their recent work, however, some researchers have come up with the finding that influentials have far less impact on social epidemics than is generally supposed. ② In fact, they don’t seem to be required of all. ③ The researchers’ argument stems from a simple observation about social influence, with the exception of a few celebrities like Oprah Winfrey — whose outsize presence is primarily a function of media, not interpersonal, influence — even the most influential members of a population simply don’t interact with that many others. ④Yet it is precisely these noncelebrity influentials who, according to the two-step-flow theory, are supposed to drive social epidemics by influencing their friends and colleagues directly. ⑤ For a social epidemic to occur, however, each person so affected, must then influence his or her own acquaintances, who must in turn influence theirs, and so on; ⑥and just how many others pay attention to each of these people has little to do with the initial influential. ⑦ If people in the network just two degrees removed from the initial influential prove resistant, for example, the cascade of change won’t propagate very far or affect many people。

【考点分析】①承上启下。研究者推翻了上文的错误观点。②无需看懂。③研究者的理由来自关于社会影响的简单的观察。即使最有影响力的人也不会与太多的人交流。④是two-step-flow theory理论。⑤转折常考出33题。“每一个受影响的人必须要影响他的熟人，他的熟人再影响自己的熟人”，这也就因为是social interaction。

33. What the researchers have observed recently shows that __________。

[A] the power of influence goes with social interactions。

[B] interpersonal links can be enhanced through the media。

[C] influentials have more channels to reach the public。

[D] most celebrities enjoy wide media attention。

【正确选项解析】[A] 由⑤可知，a social epidemic to occur= the power of influence， his or her own acquaintances=social interaction 可以明确的同义替换。goes with 与…相伴而生。

【干扰选项分析】[B]本段没有提到媒体增加人际联系。无中生有。

[C] channel(渠道)无中生有

[D“大多数名人有很大的媒体影响力”无中生有。

34.The underlined phrase “these people” in paragraph 4 refers to the ones who __________。

[A] stay outside the network of social influence

[B] have little contact with the source of influence

[C] are influenced and then influence others

[D] are influenced by the initial influential

【正确选项解析】本题可以看做是指代词具体是指代的对象。指代的对象一定是向前指代，往前找最近的名词。⑤中“每一个受影响的人必须要影响他的熟人，他的熟人再影响自己的熟人”所以these people 就是指这些“被影响并且影响别人的人”

【干扰选项分析】[A]“在社会影响的网络之外”与原文相反。

[B] 强干扰项。⑥说的是“how many others pay attention to each of these people”与initial influential(= the source of influence)无关，而[B]偷换为“these people”与initial influential(= the source of influence)接触不多。

①Building on the basic truth about interpersonal influence, the researchers studied the dynamics of social contagion by conducting thousands of computer simulations of populations, manipulating a number of variables relating to people’s ability to influence others and their tendency to be influenced。