题目内容：

    Did you hear what happened at yesterday’s meeting? Can you believe it? If you find those sorts of quietly whispered questions about your co-workers irresistible, you're hardly alone. But why are we drawn to gossip?

A new study suggests it’s because the rumors are all about us”. Gossip receivers tend to use positive and negative group information to improve, promote, and protect the self,” writes a research team, led by Elena Martinescu of the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. In the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, the researchers described two experiments team, led by Elena Martinescu of the University described two experiments testing the personal value gossip receivers get.

The first featured 178 university undergraduates, who had all previously worked on at least one course assignment with a group of four or more students. Participants were asked to recall and write a short description of an incident, in which a group member shared with them either positive or negative information about another group member’s secret. They then reported their level of agreement with a series of statements. Some of these measured the self-improvement value of the gossip (“The information received made me think I learn a lot from X”); others measured its self-promotion value (“The information I received made me feel that I am doing well compared to X”). Still others measured whether the gossip raised personal concerns (“The information I received made me feel that I must protect my image in the group”).

In the second experiment, 122 undergraduates were assigned the role of “sales agent” at a major company. They received gossip from a colleague that a third person either did very well or very badly at a performance evaluation, and were then asked about the emotions that information caused. They also responded to the above-mentioned set of statements presented to the participants in the first experiment.

In each experiment, participants found both negative and positive gossip to be of personal value with different reasons. “Positive gossip has self-improvement value,” they write. “'Competence-related positive gossip about others contains lessons about how to improve one's own competence. On the other hand, negative gossip has self-promotion value, because it provides individuals with social comparison information that justifies self-promoting judgments which results in feelings of pride.”

In addition, the results showed that negative gossip brought about self-protection concerns, the researchers write. “Negative gossip makes people concerned that their reputations may be at risk, as they may personally become targets of negative gossip in the future, which generates fear”. Fear is hardly a pleasant sensation (感觉), but it can be a motivating one. As researchers put it: “Gossip conveniently provides individuals with indirect social-comparison information about relevant others.”

1.Why are we drawn to gossip according to the researchers?

A.We need evaluative information about others to evaluate ourselves.

B.We are interested in the news that arouses our personal concerns.

C.We tend to gain a sense of pride from judging others.

D.We are likely to learn lessons from others’ mistakes.

2.According to the first experiment, which of the following shows self-promotion value?

A.I have to learn from Mary according to what Tom said about her.

B.I should behave myself in case of being gossiped about like Mary.

C.I’ve done better than Mary according to what Tom said about her.

D.I have no comments on what Tom said about Mary.

3.What’s the critical difference of the second experiment compared with the first one?

A.The identities of the participants.

B.The number of the participants studied.

C.The time during which the experiment lasted.

D.The role-play technique used in experiment.

4.What role does “negative gossip” play according to the researchers?

A.A fear killer. B.A protector.

C.A motivator. D.A subject provider.