2 . Directions: Complete the following passages by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.
A. destructive B. transfers C. equaled D. justify AB. bonds AC. scholarly
AD. pastime BC. amounted BD. analyze CD. firing ABC. fundamentally |
Do you take part in office gossip? I don’t like to think of myself as a gossip, but I have to admit I often do it. In my turbulent industry, I 1 my behavior perhaps wrongly— by reasoning that gossip helps me get information and figure out what is going on.
Amid a rise in office gossip, researchers are disagreeing over whether it is 2 good or bad. Some defend it as a way of building 3 among people and sharing essential information. But others hold that office gossip can be savage and 4 , as the New York Times reports. At one company, PrintingForLess.com, which has a strict no-gossip policy, gossiping about colleagues can become a/an, 5 offense.
In one case analyzed in a/ an 6 journal, middle school teachers’ gossip about their principal became so poisonous that the principal retaliated, many teachers fled the school and students’ test scores declined. In this case, gossip 7 to “a form of warfare that brought everyone down.”
On the other hand, less malignant gossip that stops short of repeating lies or breaching confidences can serve as a source of understanding. “Gossip helps us 8 the motivations of other people, and enables those low on the food chain, in particular, to understand how power is used in their organizations.” says this New York Times article. It is relaxing, it brings people together, and as a/an 9 it beats gambling, drinking or doing drugs, this reasoning holds.
I have seen gossip help co-workers in some places where I have worked, giving rise to compassion or offers of support when someone is going through hard times. On the other hand, I have .also seen gossip— over an office romance, for example— distract people from their work and even force unwanted 10 .
Whatever side you take, gossip is here to stay. It is a universal human practice and it is too complex to say it is either good or bad, a University of Colorado researcher says.
