Directions: In this section, there are four passages followed by questions or unfinished statements, each with four suggested answers A, B, C and D.Choose the best answer and mark your answer on the ANSWER SHEET.
Passage Two
There are few sadder sights than a pile of fan letters, lovingly decorated with hand drawings, suffering in a bin.The sparkly envelopes were addressed to Taylor Swift, a pop star much beloved by teenage and preteen girls.
“Dear Taylor,” read one discarded message, “I love you so much! You’re the best! And you’re really beautiful and cute! I’m really enjoying your songs.”
This along with hundreds of other similar letters sent from around the world, was discovered in a Nashville recycling disposal unit by a local woman.Swift’s management was quick to reassure her admirers that they had been thrown out accidentally.The response may come as a disappointment to any devotee who imagines, as they compose their letters, that Swift makes time to view each one personally.
Dealing with piles of fan mail is, however, an administrative burden for most celebrities.While some celebrities do like to go through their mail personally, the majority simply do not have time.But the fate of their correspondence is something most committed fans will not wish to dwell on, says Lynn Zubernis, an expert in the psychology of random at West Chester University.
“There’s this little bit of every fan that thinks theirs will be the one that stands out—it’s not an expectation, but a hope that theirs will be seen by the celebrity.”
While the relationship between the fan and the celebrity may exist only in the mind of the former, it stems from a deeply-rooted human need for community and belonging, Zubernis believes.As a result, even receiving a mass-produced letter of acknowledgement and a photo stamped with a reproduced signature can be a powerful experience.
“People have a tremendous need to connect with the person they are idolizing(偶像化)”, she says, “They can’t ring them up and say, ‘Can we have coffee’? It’s not about the autograph(签名).It’s about the moment of connection.”