Text 3

In his book The Tipping Poinl Malcohn aladuell aloues that social epidemics are dliven in largepart by the acting of a tiny minority of special

individuals,often calledin flu entials who are unusuall informed, persuasive, or we connect The idea is intuit ively compelling but it doesn't explain howideas actually spread.

The supposed importance of inftuentials derives from a plansible sounding but largely untested theory untested thelry called the "tow-step flow of communication" Information

llows from the mediato the inftuentials and from then to ereryone else. Marke ters have embraced the two-step flow became it suggests that if they can just find and

influence the in fluent ials, those select people will do most of the work for them Thetheory also seems to explain the sudden and unexpected popularity of people was

wearing promoting or developing whaterver it is before anyone else paid attention Anecdotal evidence of this kind fits nicely with the idea that only certain special

people call drivetrends

In their recent work howeyer some researchers have come up with the finding that in fluentials have far less impact on social epidemics than is genetally supposed In

fact they don’t seem to be required of all

The researchers' argument stems from a simple obserrating about social influence with the exception of a few celebrities like Oprah Winfrey-whose outsize presence is primanrilly a function of media not interpersonal influence-enen the most influential members of a population simply don't interact with that many others Yet it is precisely these non-celebring influentials who according to the two-step-flow theoryare supposed to drive social enidemics by influcenciny their friends and colleagues directly .For a social epidemic to occur however each person so sffected must then influcence 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 from the initial influential prove resistant, for example the casecade 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 populations manipulating a number of variables relating of populations manipulating a number of variables relating to people’s abilify to influence others and their tendence to be

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

[A] analyze the consequences of social epid emics

[B] discuss influentials’ funcition in spreading ideas

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

[D] describe the essential characteristics of influentials

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

[A] serves as a solution to marketing problems

[B] has helped explain certain preva lent trends

[C] has won support from influentials

[D] requires solid evidence for its validity

33. what the researchers have observed recenty 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 celebritiea enjoy wide media attention

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

34.what is the essential slement in the dynamics of social influence?

{A}The eageiness to be accepted

{B}The impulse to influence others

{C}The resdiness to be influenced

{D}The inclination to rely on others
 Text 4

Bankers have been blaming themselves for their troubles in public .Behind eht scenes,they have been taking aim at someone else the accounting standard-setters.Their rules,moan the banks,have forced them to report enormous losses,and it’s just not fair.These rules say they must value some assets at the price atheird party would pay,not the price managers and regulators would like them to fetch.

Unfortunately,banks’lobbying now seems to be working.The details may be unknowable,but the independence of standard-setters,essential to the proper functioning of capital marksts,is being compromised.And,unless banks carry toxic assets at prices that attract buyers,reviving the banking system will be difficult.After a bruising encounter with Xongress.America;s Financial Accounting Standards Board(FASB)rushed through rule changse.These gave banks more freedom to use models to value illiquid assets and more flexibility in recognizing losses on long0term assets in their income statement.Bob Herz,the FASB’s chairman,cried out against ehose who ”question our motives.”Yet bank shares rose and the changes enhance what one lobby group politely calls”the use of judgment by management.”

European ministers instantly demanded that the International Accounting Standards Board(IASB)