1. What’s the main topic of this conversation?

　　2. Which of the following descriptions does not apply to Connectors?

　　3. Which of the following statements best defines the Mavens?

　　4. According to the conversation, which of the following groups does the man’s friend Ereal belong to?

　　5. What can we tell about all three groups of people?

　　【解析】本段以对话形式介绍了三种人Maven，Connector，Salesman的含义，及各自对transmissions of epidemic ideas的作用，并给出明确的例证。答题关键在于理解三种人分别有何特征，而问题也基本围绕其定义展开。考生可能会对文中出现的word-of-mouth epidemic等说法不熟悉，但可以根据上下文推断其含义。总体难度适中。

听力Listening Comprehension 2 原文

Question 6 to 10 are based on the following news.

　　New York, USA

　　Thousands of "Occupy Wall Street" demonstrators fanned out across New York on Thursday in the first major showing of protest strength since authorities forcibly evicted them from their Lower Manhattan encampment two days earlier.

　　The group twice squared off against riot police in Zuccotti Park, while engaging in sporadic confrontations with authorities throughout the day.

　　Demonstrators say they plan to cross the Brooklyn Bridge, where 700 people were arrested in a similar march early last month.

　　At least 177 protesters were arrested during Thursday’s demonstrations, said Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, who noted that seven police officers were also hurt during exchanges with protesters.

　　Rome Italy

　　New Italian PM Mario Monti’s government of technocrats has passed its first test, winning a vote of confidence in the senate.

　　As expected, the government won the vote in the upper house of parliament easily, by 281 votes to 25.

　　The vote was held after Mr. Monti had outlined his government’s program of reforms to tackle all the country’s economic problems and cut its debt.

　　He faces a second vote in the lower house of parliament on Friday.

　　Mario Monti, a former EU commissioner, said austerity measures would be balanced by economic growth and social fairness.

　　Meanwhile, thousands of students staged protests in several Italian cities against Mr. Monti’s government.

　　Tokyo Japan

　　Unlike an earthquake, a demographic disaster does not strike without warning. Japan’s population of 127millon is predicted to fall to 90million by 2050. By then, the ratio between working-age Japanese and children and the elderly will be one to one. What’s more, half the talent in Japan is female. Outside the kitchen, those talents are woefully underemployed, nearly half of Japanese university graduates are female but only 67% of these women have jobs,

　　Japanese women with degrees are much more likely than Americans to quit their jobs voluntarily, saying that the strongest push came from employers who do not value them. A startling 49% of highly educated Japanese women quit, because they feel their careers have stalled.

　　Cambridge Massachusetts USA