A flurry of rumor and gossip followed recent reports of a small plane hitting a high-rise apartment building on New York’s Upper East Side. Was it a helicopter or a plane Was it an accident or a (26) attack The pilot’s celebrity (27) added another strange twist as the rumor unraveled to substantiated fact. The (28) of that unraveling, of people sorting out bits of fact and fiction, (29) Nicholas DiFonzo, professor of social and organization psychology at Rochester Institute of Technology and one of the leading experts on rumor and gossip research. He is (30) researching how rumors proliferate, (31) and die over time as part of a National Science Fotmdation-funded study. In their recent book Rumor P~,chology, DiFonzo and co-author Prashant Borida, (32) professor of management at the University of South Australia, present new research and ideas about rumors, which they (33) from gossip and urban legend. "A rumor is what you do when you try to figure out the truth with other people," DiFonzo says. "It’s collective sense making. The classic example is ’ I heard that...’" Gossip, on the other hand, is sharing information with an agenda, he says. (34) . Gossip, which may be true, tends to have an edge. "Gossip is more to do with social networks," DiFonzo says. " (35) ." The urban legend is a misnomer, he says. "’Modem legends’ or ’contemporary legends’ would be more accurate." "How do people know what’s true is true" is the question that most interests DiFonzo. (36) .
【参考答案】
His research on rumor accuracy and the role of trust in rumo......