1 . ”Did you hear what happened to Adam last Friday?” Lindsey whispers to Tori.

With her eyes shining, Tori brags, “You bet I did. Sean told me two days ago.”

Who are Lindsey and Tori talking about? It just happens to be yours truly, Adam Freedman. I can tell you that what they are saying is (a) not nice and (b) not even true. Still, Lindsey and Tori aren’t very different from most students here at Linton High School, including me. Many of our conversations are gossip. I have noticed three effects of gossip: it can hurt people, it can give gossipers a strange kind of satisfaction, and it can cause social pressures in a group.

An important negative effect of gossip is that it can hurt the person being talked about. Usually, gossip spreads information about a topic — breakups, trouble at home, even dropping out — that a person would rather keep secret. The more embarrassing or shameful the secret is, the juicier the gossip it makes. Probably the worst type of gossip is the absolute lie. People often think of gossipers as harmless, but cruel lies can cause pain.

If we know that gossip can be harmful, then why do so many of us do it? The answer lies in another effect of gossip: the satisfaction it gives us. Sharing the latest rumor can make a person feel important because he or she knows something that others don’t. Similarly, hearing the latest rumor can make a person feel like part of the “in group.” In other words, gossip is satisfying because it gives people a sense of belonging or even superiority(优越感).

Gossip also can have a third effect: it strengthens unwritten, unspoken rules about how people should act. Professor David Wilson explains that gossip is important in policing behaviors in a group. Translated into high school terms, this means that if everybody you hang around with is laughing at what John wore or what Jane said, then you can bet that wearing or saying something similar will get you the same kind of negative attention. The do’s and don’ts conveyed through gossip will never show up in any student handbook.

The effects of gossip vary depending on the situation. The next time you feel the urge to spread the latest news, think about why you want to gossip and what effects your “juicy story” might have.

3 . Most of us are already aware of the direct effect we have on our friends and family. But we rarely consider that everything we think, feel, do, or say can spread far beyond the people we know. Conversely(相反地), our friends and family serve as conduits(渠道) for us to be influenced by hundreds or even thousands of other people. In a kind of social chain reaction, we can be deeply affected by events we do not witness that happen to people we do not know. As part of a social network, we go beyond ourselves, for good or ill, and become a part of something much larger.

Our connectedness carries with it fundamental implications(影响) for the way we understand the human condition. Social networks have value precisely because they can help us to achieve what we could not achieve on our own. Yet, social­network effects are not always positive. Depression, obesity, financial panic, and violence also spread. Social networks, it turns out, tend to magnify(放大) whatever they are seeded with.

Partly for this reason, social networks are creative. And what these networks create does not belong to any one individual—it is shared by all those in the network. In this way, a social network is like a commonly owned forest: We all stand to benefit from it, but we also must work together to ensure it remains healthy and productive. While social networks are fundamentally and distinctively human, and can be seen everywhere, they should not be taken for granted.

If you are happier or richer or healthier than others, it may have a lot to do with where you happen to be in the network, even if you cannot recognise your own location. And it may have a lot to do with the overall structure of the network, even if you cannot control that structure at all. And in some cases, the process feeds back to the network itself. A person with many friends may become rich and then attract even more friends. This rich­get­richer dynamic means social networks can dramatically reinforce two different kinds of inequality in our society: situational inequality and positional inequality.

Lawmakers have not yet considered the consequences of positional inequality. Still, understanding the way we are connected is an essential step in creating a more just society and in carrying out public policies affecting everything from public health to the economy. We might be better off vaccinating(接种疫苗) centrally located individuals rather than weak individuals. We might be better off helping interconnected groups of people to avoid criminal behaviour rather than preventing or punishing crimes one at a time.

If we want to understand how society works, we need to fill in the missing links between individuals. We need to understand how interconnections and interactions between people give rise to wholly new aspects of human experience that are not present in the individuals themselves. If we do not understand social networks, we cannot hope to fully understand either ourselves or the world we inhabit.

4 . I was cycling and noticed a person about a quarter of a kilometer in front of me. I could tell he was cycling a little slower than me and _________ to try to catch up with him. I had about a kilometer to go on the road _________ turning off.

So I _________ cycling faster and faster and on every _________, I was gaining on him just a little bit. After just a few minutes I was only about 100 yards _________ him, so I really picked up the pace and _________myself. You might _________ I was cycling in the last section of the London Olympic triathlon.

_________ I caught up with him and passed him. On the inside I felt so _________. I beat him, of course, but he didn't even know we were __________.

After I passed him, I __________ that I had been so focused on competing against him that I had __________ my turn. I had gone nearly six blocks past it and had to turn around and go all the way back.

Isn't that what happens in life when we __________ competing with co-workers, neighbors, and friends, trying to __________ that we are more successful or more important? We spend our time and __________ chasing after them and we miss out on our own __________ our future.

The __________of unhealthy competition is that it's a never-ending __________. And there will always be somebody ahead of you, someone with a __________   job, more money and a better education, etc.

Therefore, just take what life has given you, your height, weight and personality. Stays focused and live a peaceful life. There's no __________in life. Run your own race and wish others well!

5 . As I drove my blue Buick into the garage, I saw that a yellow Oldsmobile was _________ too close to my space. I had to drive back and forth to get my car into the _________ space. That left _________ enough room to open the door. Then one day I arrived home _________ , and just as I turned off the engine, the yellow Oldsmobile entered its space—too close to my car, _________ . At last I had a chance to meet the driver. My patience had _________ and I shouted at her, "Can't you see you're not _________ me enough space? Park farther over." Banging（猛推）open her door into _________. The driver shouted back, "Make me!" _________ this she stepped out of the garage. Still, each time she got home first, she parked too close to my __________ Then one day, I thought, "What can I do?" I soon found __________ . The next day the woman __________ a note on her windshield（挡风玻璃）:

I'm sorry my mistress（女主人）shouted at yours the other day. She's been sorry about it. I know it because she doesn't sing anymore while __________ . It wasn't like her to scream __________. Fact is, she'd just got bad news and was taking it out on you two. I __________ you and your mistress will __________ her.

Your neighbor,

Blue Buick

When I went to the __________ the next morning, the Oldsmobile was gone, but there was a note on my windshield:

My mistress is sorry, too. She parked so __________ because she just learned to drive. We will park much farther over after this. I'm glad we can be __________ now.

Your neighbor,

Yellow Oldsmobile

After that, whenever Blue Buick __________ yellow Oldsmobile on the road, their drivers waved cheerfully and smiled.

As a child, Obaida Omar     1     (narrow) escaped the enemy’s invasion of her native Afghanistan, walking for weeks through the mountains. Now     2     mother of three and Islamic Center of Rochester board member, Omar provided first-hand experience of what it means to be a child made     3     (home) by war as the speaker at the “Dinner for Peace” hosted by the Student Association for the Development of Arab Cultural Awareness last Saturday. About 250 guests attended the dinner, the profit of     4     will go to education for children affected by the Middle Eastern crisis.

“Children did not create this conflict,     5     they are its greatest victims,” said Alanoud Alcaide, the group’s president, who gave the opening speech at the dinner. “Tonight we have raised roughly $3,000 in profit, which means over 1,000 children can get the education they deserve”, he said. “    6     you, tonight would not have been possible.”

    7     (entertain) the audience, the Yellow Jackets kicked the night off with a     8     (select) of lively songs. “We     9     (plan) this for two months now. It feels wonderful to see such an amazing performance. It brings back the human element, making you remember that we’re all the same,” said Gabby Stillman, a     10    (twelve) grader.

8 . Unchangeable Love

One day I visited an art museum while waiting for my husband to finish a business meeting.

I was expecting a quiet_______of the splendid artwork.

A young_______viewing the paintings ahead of me_______nonstop between themselves. I watched them a moment and decided the lady was doing all the talking. I admired the man’s _______for putting up with her_______stream of words, _______by their noise, I moved on.

I met them several times as I moved _______the various rooms of art. Each time I heard her continuous flow of words, I moved away___________.

I was standing at the counter of the museum gift shop making a _______when the couple approached the__________. Before they left, the man __________into his pocket and pulled out a white object. He____________ it into a long stick and then tapped his way into the __________to get his wife’s jacket.

“He’s a __________man.” the clerk at the counter said. “Most of us would give up if we were blinded at such a young age. During his recovery, he made a promise his life wouldn’t change. So, as before, he and his wife come in ____________there is a new art show.”

“But what does he get out of the art?” I asked, “He can't see.”

“Can’t see! You’re__________. He sees a lot. More than you and I do,” the clerk said, “His wife __________ each pointing so he can see it in his head.”

I learned something about patience, __________and love that day. I saw the patience of a young wife describing paintings to a person without __________ and the courage of a husband who would not____________blindness to change his life. And I saw the love shared by two people as I watched this couple walk away, hand in hand.