题目
单选题请阅读Passage 1，完成第小题。 Passage 1 In his book The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell 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． The idea is intuitively compelling, but it doesn´t explain how ideas actually spread． The 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． Marketers have embraced the two-step flow because it suggests that if they can just find and influence the influentials, those selected people will do most of the work for them． The theory also seems to explain the sudden and unexpected popularity of certain looks, brands, or neighborhoods． In 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． Anecdotal evidence of this kind fits nicely with the idea that only certain special people can drive trends． In 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． In fact, they don´t seem to be required of all． 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． Yet it is precisely these non-celebrity influentials who, according to the two-step-flow theory, are supposed to drive social epidemics, by influencing their friends and colleagues directly． 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; and just how many others pay attention to each of these people has little to do with the initial influential． 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． Building on the basic truth about interpersonal influence, the researchers studied the dynamics of social influence 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． They found that the principal requirement for what is called "global cascades"—the widespread propagation of influence through networks--is the presence not of a few influentials but,rather, of a critical mass of easily influenced people． 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 ofinfluentials
单选题请阅读Passage 1，完成第小题。
Passage 1
In his book The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell 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． The idea is intuitively compelling, but it doesn´t explain how ideas actually spread．
The 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． Marketers have embraced the two-step flow because it suggests that if they can just find and influence the influentials, those selected people will do most of the work for them． The theory also seems to explain the sudden and unexpected popularity of certain looks, brands, or neighborhoods． In 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． Anecdotal evidence of this kind fits nicely with the idea that only certain special people can drive trends．
In 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． In fact, they don´t seem to be required of all．
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． Yet it is precisely these non-celebrity influentials who, according to the two-step-flow theory, are supposed to drive social epidemics, by influencing their friends and colleagues directly． 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; and just how many others pay attention to each of these people has little to do with the initial influential． 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．
Building on the basic truth about interpersonal influence, the researchers studied the dynamics of social influence 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． They found that the principal requirement for what is called "global cascades"—the widespread propagation of influence through networks--is the presence not of a few influentials but,rather, of a critical mass of easily influenced people．
By citing the book The Tipping Point, the author intends to__________．
Passage 1
In his book The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell 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． The idea is intuitively compelling, but it doesn´t explain how ideas actually spread．
The 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． Marketers have embraced the two-step flow because it suggests that if they can just find and influence the influentials, those selected people will do most of the work for them． The theory also seems to explain the sudden and unexpected popularity of certain looks, brands, or neighborhoods． In 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． Anecdotal evidence of this kind fits nicely with the idea that only certain special people can drive trends．
In 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． In fact, they don´t seem to be required of all．
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． Yet it is precisely these non-celebrity influentials who, according to the two-step-flow theory, are supposed to drive social epidemics, by influencing their friends and colleagues directly． 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; and just how many others pay attention to each of these people has little to do with the initial influential． 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．
Building on the basic truth about interpersonal influence, the researchers studied the dynamics of social influence 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． They found that the principal requirement for what is called "global cascades"—the widespread propagation of influence through networks--is the presence not of a few influentials but,rather, of a critical mass of easily influenced people．
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 ofinfluentials
题目解答
答案
参考答案：B
解析
考查要点：本题主要考查学生对文章引用目的的理解能力，需要结合上下文分析作者引用《The Tipping Point》的具体意图。
解题核心思路：
- 定位引用内容：明确文中引用Malcolm Gladwell的目的是为了引出关于“社会 epidemics”和“influentials”的讨论。
- 对比选项：结合文章后续内容（如对“两步流动理论”的质疑和新研究发现），判断作者引用该书的核心意图是讨论influentials在传播中的作用，而非单纯描述特征或分析后果。
破题关键点：
- 关键句：“The idea is intuitively compelling, but it doesn´t explain how ideas actually spread”表明作者引用Gladwell的观点是为了引出对influentials作用的讨论，而非单纯举例或描述特征。
- 后续内容关联：文章后续直接反驳了influentials的核心作用，进一步印证引用目的为分析其在传播中的实际影响。
选项分析：
- A．分析后果：错误。文章未涉及“社会 epidemics”的具体后果，而是聚焦传播机制。
- B．讨论influentials的作用：正确。作者通过引用Gladwell的观点，引出对“influentials是否驱动传播”的核心讨论。
- C．举例说明直觉反应：错误。虽然文中提到“intuitively compelling”，但引用目的并非举例直觉，而是引出理论本身。
- D．描述influentials的特征：错误。文中虽提及influentials的特点，但引用目的是为后续质疑其作用服务，而非单纯描述特征。
逻辑链：
- 引用内容：Gladwell提出influentials驱动传播的观点。
- 作者态度：认为该观点“直观吸引人，但无法解释实际传播机制”。
- 后续展开：通过新研究指出influentials影响被高估，强调“易受影响群体”才是关键。
- 结论：引用目的为讨论influentials在传播中的实际作用，而非单纯描述或举例。