【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】[听力原文]
M: There is a small number of exceptional people who play a huge role in the transmission of epidemic ideas. I call them mavens, connectors, and salesmen.
W: Say it again.
M: Mavens, connectors, and salesmen. Connectors are the kind of people who know everybody. They have extraordinary social ties. Well, if I do this names test in the Manhattan phone book and you go down the list, every time you see a name you know, you give yourself a point. Well, most people score like 25 or 30. Someone scores 120 or 130. That kind of person is incredibly powerful in generating word-of-mouth epidemics. If they like something and get a hold of some idea, they can spread it five or six times further than the average person.
W: Who are those people? What defines them?
M: Well, these are extraordinarily social people with a lot of energy who are consumed by the task of getting to know people. Of meeting people, of keeping in touch with them. They make phone calls all day long.
W: I"m afraid I"m one of them.
M: This is not typical behavior. This is behavior that"s actually rare. Most of us don"t do that, and I"m someone who is not that way. I can"t start a word-of-mouth epidemic because I simply don"t know enough people. I can"t get it outside my own immediate circle of friends. Someone has friends all over the place. They can spread the news about a new restaurant or a new movie or something far and wide in a very, very short time.
W: These are the connectors. Who are the mavens and who are the salesmen?
M: The mavens are people who have specialized knowledge. If you examine why you make certain decisions, why you shop somewhere, why you go to a certain restaurant, you find that you are relying on the same person over and over again for recommendations. Those people I call mavens. My friend Ariel is a maven, who knows all about restaurants in lower Manhattan. If I want to know about the hot new restaurant I call Ariel. Well, all of Ariel"s friends call Ariel and if you go to restaurants in lower Manhattan and look around the room, you will see friends of Ariel. The restaurant market is an epidemic market, which is controlled by a group of Ariels. I don"t think there"re very many of them, there"re probably two dozen of them. That"s true of lots of things. That"s true of shopping and books and movies. If a maven gets together with a connector then you begin to see why a word-of-mouth epidemic might happen. Someone who knows everyone, in combination with someone who knows everything, is a really powerful connection.
W: And then introduce the salesmen.
M: Well those people are incredibly persuasive, and again, that"s a very rare and unusual trait.
W: Leaves me out. You see, I connect but I can"t sell.
M: Well, they"re separate categories. I"ve met with a guy, who is known as one of the greatest salesmen in America today. When you meet someone like that you begin to realize why trends happen. They happen because someone has this extraordinary natural ability to win you over. When they get a hold of an idea, they can really make it go a long way.
What is the main topic of this conversation?