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1、BackgroundinformationThisisfromthebest-selling2008book,WatchingtheEnglishbyKateFox,whoisasocialanthropologistanddirectoroftheSocialIssuesResearchCentreattheUniversityofOxford.ThebookisaculturaldescriptionofEnglishwaysofcommunicating(ontopicsliketheweatherorwhenusingmobilephones)andbehaving(athomeori
2、ntheworkplace,wheneating,andinpubs).Sheobservespeople’sbehavior,butalso,asasocialscientist,interviewspeopleandconductssocialexperimentstorevealthesocialrulesorunderlyingcodesandcustoms.TextOthertopicsinthebookincludedresscodes,waysofshopping,queuing,and–theextracthere–socialgossip.Theextracthereisab
3、outgossip.Togossipisasocialwaytotalkaboutotherpeopleandtheirprivatelivesoraboutthingsthatarenotimportant.Thewriterandotherresearchershavefoundthatwhenpeoplegossiptherearesocialpatternsinthechoiceoftopicandthewayoftalkingaboutit.Thephraseinthetitle,gossiprules,referstotherulesorpatternsthatarefoundin
4、howpeoplegossip,butitisambiguousandmightmeanthatgossiprulesorgovernsourlives.TextSexDifferencesinEnglishGossipRules1Contrarytopopularbelief,researchershavefoundthatmengossipjustasmuchaswomen.InoneEnglishstudy,bothsexesdevotedthesameamountofconversationtime(about65percent)tosocialtopicssuchaspersonal
5、relationships;inanother,thedifferencewasfoundtobequitesmall,withgossipaccountingfor55percentofmaleconversationtimeand67percentoffemaletime.Assportandleisurehavebeenshowntooccupyabout10percentofconversationtime,discussionoffootballcouldwellaccountforthedifference.Text2Menwerecertainlyfoundtobenomorel
6、ikelythanwomentodiscuss"important"or"highbrow"subjectssuchaspolitics,work,artandculturalmatters–except(andthiswasastrikingdifference)whenwomenwerepresent.Ontheirown,mengossip,withnomorethanfivepercentofconversationtimedevotedtonon-socialsubjectssuchasworkorpolitics.Itisonlyinmixed-sexgroups,wherethe
7、rearewomentoimpress,thattheproportionofmaleconversationtimedevotedtothesemore"highbrow"subjectsincreasesdramatically,tobetween15and20percent.Text3Infact,recentresearchhasrevealedonlyonesignificantdiff
