这周我们继续来学习The Accidental influentials这篇文章。我们在上周讲解了文章的
第一、二段
，在前两段中， 作者阐述了要批驳的观点，接下来的三段，作者开始论述自己的看法。我们一起来读一读。
①
In their recent work, however, some researchers have come up with the finding that influentials have far less impact on social epidemics than is generally supposed.
②
In fact, they don't seem to be required at all.
①
The researchers’ argument stems from a simple
observation
about social influence,
with the exception of
a few
celebrities
like Oprah Winfrey—whose
outsize presence
is
primarily
a function of media, not
interpersonal influence—even the most influential members of a population simply don't
interact with
that many others.
②
Yet it is
precisely
these non-celebrity influentials who, according to the two-step-flow theory, are supposed to drive social epidemics by influencing their friends and colleagues directly.
③
For a social epidemic to occur, however, each person so
affected, must then influence his or her own
acquaintances, who must
in turn
influence theirs, and so on; and just how many others pay attention to each of these people
has little to do with
the
initial
influential.
④
If people in the network just two degrees removed from the initial influential
prove
resistant, for example
the cascade of change
won't
propagate
very far or affect many people.
①
Building on the basic truth about interpersonal influence, the researchers studied the dynamics of social influence by conducting thousands of computer simulations of populations, manipulating a number of variables relating to people's ability to influence others and their tendency to be influenced.
②
They found that the principal requirement for what we call "global cascades"
—
the widespread propagation of influence through networks
—
is the presence not of a few influentials but, rather, of a critical mass of easily influenced people.
The Accidental influentials
文：Lexie, 草鱼
①
In their recent work, however, some researchers have
come up with
the finding that influentials have far less impact on social epidemics than is generally supposed.
②
In fact, they don't seem to be required of all.
然而，一些研究者在最近的研究中发现，有影响力的人物对社会流行潮的影响比人们普遍认为的小得多。事实上，社会流行浪潮似乎根本不需要这些人。
第四、五段详细阐述作者的观点。第四段介绍研究发现，论证作者观点。第四段比较长，我们先来看
①
②句。
①
The researchers’ argument
stems from
a simple
observation
about social influence,
with the exception of
a few
celebrities
like Oprah Winfrey—whose
outsize
presence
is
primarily
a function of media, not
interpersonal influence
—even the most influential members of a population simply don't
interact with
that many others.
②
Yet it is
precisely
these non-celebrity influentials who, according to the two-step-flow theory, are supposed to drive social epidemics by influencing their friends and colleagues directly.
-
A stems from B
可以用在写作中，表示原因，其中 A 是结果，B 是原因。比如
Most of our early beliefs stem from our parents.
-
再比如陷入美国入学舞弊案的《绝望的主妇》女主角在道歉时曾说：
I am in full acceptance of my guilt, and with deep regret and shame over what I have done, I accept full responsibility for my actions and will accept the consequences that
stem from
those actions.
我非常内疚，对我所做的事情深感遗憾和羞耻，我对自己的行为承担全部责任，接受所产生的全部后果
-
与
stem from sth
类似的形象表达还有
A has its roots in B
，
A is rooted in B
.
-
root
本义是“根”，
A has its roots in B
指“A 扎根于B，A起源于B”，
比如
◇
Theatre has its roots in story telling and evolved into acting and the stage.
戏剧起 源于说书，逐渐演变为舞台表演艺术。
-
root
还可作动词，指“使…扎根”，
A is rooted in B
，即“A 扎根于B，A起源于B”，比如《金融时报》一篇关于中美贸易战的文章引用了美国政府的一番言论：
For decades, US policy
was rooted in
the belief that support for China’s rise and for its integration into the postwar international order would liberalise China.
几十年来，美国的政策植根于这样一种信念，即支持中国崛起和融入战后国际秩序，将会让中国迈向自由化。
-
A stems from B
,
A has its roots in B
,
A is rooted in B
这三个短语都可以用在写作中，引出根本原因。
[写作推荐]
-
celebrity
[sɪ'lebrɪtɪ] 指“名人；名流”
(a famous person)
。我们平时说的“网红”就可以说
online celebrities
，比如《纽约时报》在一篇评述中国网红和自媒体崛起现象的文章中写道
She is also one of China’s most sudden and popular online celebrities, better known as Papi Jiang.
她，也是中国蹿红的网红之一，大家都叫她Papi酱。
-
outsize
['aʊtsaɪz] 指“较大的；特大号的”
(larger than the usual size)
，如
◇An outsized photograph hung above her bedroom fireplace.
一幅巨大的照片挂在她卧室的壁炉上方。
-
presence
[ˈprezəns] 指“存在”，比如《经济学人》一篇关于中国人工智能发展的文章里有这样一句话：
Tencent has so far kept the lowest profile; it established its AI labs only in recent months. But it is bound to develop
a big
presence
in AI: it has more data than the other two.
目前来看，腾讯最为低调，直到最近几个月才建立起自己的人工智能实验室。不过它拥有的数据比百度和阿里巴巴都要多，势必会在人工智能领域占据重要地位。其对应的形容词为
present
，指“出现，在场”，比如
◇There were 200 people present at the meeting
. 有 200 人出席会议。
-
primarily
['praɪmərɪlɪ] 义为“主要地；根本地”
(mainly)
。
-
that
在这里不是代词，而是副词，强调“非常，那么”，文中that many others指那么多其他人。再举个例子
◇I was that embarrassed I didn't know what to say.
我非常尴尬， 都不知道该说些什么。
[熟词僻义]
-
precisely
表示
强调，指“正是，恰恰是”，比如
◇It's precisely because I care about you that I don't like you staying out late.
正因为我关心你，我才不要你太晚回家。
研究者的观点源于一项对社会影响力的简单观察：除了个别像 Oprah Winfrey这类运用媒体影响力、而非人际影响力的名人外，即使人群中最具影响力的人也无法与那么多的其他人互动。然而，根据两级传播理论，正是这些非名人的影响力人士通过直接影响了他们的朋友和同事，从推动了社会流行潮流。
③
For a social epidemic to occur, however, each person so affected, must then influence his or her own
acquaintances
, who must
in turn
influence theirs, and so on; and just how many others pay attention to each of these people
has little to do with
the
initial
influential.
④
If people in the network just two degrees removed from the initial influential
prove
resistant,
for example
the cascade of change
won't
propagate
very far or affect many people.
-
acquaintance
[ə'kweɪntəns] 作名词，指“认识的人；熟人”
(a person that you know but who is not a close friend)
，比如我们是老熟人了：
We're old acquaintances.
-
in turn
义为“相应地；转而”
(as a result of sth in a series of events)。
比如
◇Government collects its revenue through the form of taxes, which is in turn used for the benefits of taxpayers.
政府以税收的形式获得资金，这资金又反过来用于纳税人。
-
have little to do with sth
指“与
…
关系不大”，更绝对化一点，
have nothing to do with sth
指“与
…
无关”。
-
initial
[iˈniʃəl] 作形容词，指“最初的”
(happening at the beginning; first)
，比如
◇My initial reaction was to decline the offer.
我最初的反应是婉言谢绝这个提议。
-
再补充一些
initial
的同源词汇：
-
initiate
[ɪ'nɪʃɪeɪt] 作动词，义为“发起”
(to make sth begin)
，比如
◇The government has initiated a programme of economic reform.
政府已开始实施经济改革方案。
-
initiative
[ɪ'nɪʃɪətɪv] 作名词，义为“倡议；新方案”
(a new plan for dealing with a particular problem or for achieving a particular purpose)
，如
◇Belt and Road Initiative
“一带一路”倡议。
-
resistant
[rɪ'zɪstənt] 作形容词，指“抵抗的；有抵抗力的”
(not affected by sth; able to resist sth)
，比如
◇The body may be less resistant if it is cold.
天冷时，身体的抵抗力会下降。
-
be removed from sth
指“与…不同”，我们在2010 Text 1中学过短语
be far removed from sth
指“与…大相径庭”。 本文作者曾提出“六度分隔理论“，认为不管是哪两个人，最多只要有六个中间人，就能串联出这两个人的关系，也就是两个人最多只相隔六度。文中people in the network just two degrees removed from the initial influential 指“距离最初的影响力人士‘两度’的人”。
-
cascade
[kæsˈkeɪd] 本义是“瀑布”，文中the cascade of change 指如同瀑布一般变化，可理解为"一连串变化"
-
propagate
还可表示“繁殖；增殖”
(to produce new plants from a parent plant)
，比如
The weeds propagate themselves rapidly.
杂草繁殖极快。
-
名词
propaganda
也是外刊的高频词，为“宣传；鼓吹”
(ideas or statements that may be false or exaggerated and that are used in order to gain support for a political leader, party, etc.)
，为贬义词，多见于介绍政治宣传的文章中，比如
◇
The app remains political parties’ favoured means of disseminating propaganda.
这个应用仍然是政党用于传播政治宣传爱用的手段。
但是，要真正形成社会流行潮流，每个受影响的人还必须影响他的熟人，而他的熟人又必须再去影响其他熟人，依此类推；但是会有多少人去关注这些熟人中的每个人，与最初的影响者几乎没有关系。举个例子来说，在这个人际影响的网络中，连距离最初的影响力人士只有两度的人都抗拒这种影响，那么这一连串变化就不会传播得很远，也不会影响到很多人。
①
Building on
the basic truth about interpersonal influence, the researchers studied the
dynamics
of social influence by conducting thousands of computer
simulations
of populations,
manipulating
a number of
variables
relating to people's ability to influence others and their tendency to be influenced.
②
They found that the
principal
requirement for what we call "global cascades"- the widespread propagation of influence through networks - is the presence not of a few influentials but, rather, of a critical mass of easily influenced people.
