If you listen with the people around you in a café, you will find that around two- third of their conversation is taken up with "gossip". They talk about who is doing what with who, and why h
If you listen °with the people around you in a café, you will find that around 26two- third of their conversation is taken up with "gossip”. They talk about who is doing what with 27who, and why 28have certain people pleased them and others not. You may come across an intense exchange about work or a book that someone has just read. But 29a such conversation will soon drift away returning to the intense interest in each 30others doings which characterizes the social life of humans. Close analysis of conversation groups reveals a further pattern. Gossip seems to require a small 31amount of participants, usually two or three. If other individuals try to join the group, things start to go 32wrongly. The speaker and listeners try to involve the newcomers, but it becomes impossible to retain the attention of everyone. The group becomes unstable and breaks 33out into smaller, rival conversation groups. Gossip allows us to interact more efficiently with other people. By 34a mean of gossip, we can keep track of what is happening among the members of our community, to bond with 35another through smiling and laughing. Far from being a trivial activity, gossip is an essential part of being human.
26. two-third → two-thirds | 27. who → whom | |
28. have certain people → certain people have | 29. a such → | such a |
30. others → other's | 31. amount | → number |
32. wrongly → wrong | 33. out → up | |
34. a mean → means | 35. another | → others |