The Talmud describes it as a "three-pronged tongue" that kills three people：the teller，the listener，and the person being gossiped about.And Blaise Pascal observed，not unreasonably，that "if people really knew what others said about them，there would not be four friends left in the world."
Convincing as these indictments (控告) seem，however，a significant body of research suggests that gossip may in fact be healthy. Despite gossip's evil reputation，a surprisingly small share of it—as little as 3 to 4 percent—is actually malicious.And even that portion can bring people together.Researchers at the University of Texas found that if two people share negative feelings about a third person，they are likely to feel closer to each other than they would if they both felt positively about him or her.
Gossip may even make us better people，and it is pretty pervasive.A team of Dutch researchers reported that positive gossip inspired self-improvement efforts，and negative gossip made people prouder of themselves.
Moreover，the worse participants felt upon hearing a piece of negative gossip，the more likely they were to say they had learned a lesson from it. By far the most positive assessment of gossip，though，comes from the evolutionary psychologist Robin Dunbar.In Dunbar's account，our primate ancestors bonded through grooming (梳理毛发)，their mutual back-scratching ensuring mutual self-defense in the event of attack by predators.But as hominids (原始人类) grew more intelligent and more social，their groups became too large to unite by grooming alone.That's where language—and gossip，broadly defined—stepped in.
So the next time you're tempted to gossip about others，fear not—you may actually be promoting cooperation，boosting others' self-esteem，and performing the essential task of the human family.
What's the main point of the passage?无全文翻译
坊间的说法是，流言是最糟糕的。
安·兰德斯曾在忠告专栏中把流言描述为“令人伤心和毁掉职业生涯的千篇一律的恶魔。”《塔木德》称其为一把“三刃剑”，一次可以杀死三个人：传播流言的人、听信流言的人和被人讲流言蜚语的人。布慕兹·帕斯卡则发现，“如果人们真的知道别人在其背后说他们的话，那世界上就不会有四个朋友，”这话不无道理。
这些指控看似让人信服，但大量研究却表明流言实际上可能是有益的。尽管流言声名狼藉，但其实只有很小一部分——小到只有3%到4%——是真正有恶意的。甚至这一小部分也能让人相互接近。
德克萨斯大学的研究人员发现，如果两个人对第三个人都有消极看法，相比对该人产生积极印象而言，他们可能会感觉彼此更亲密。流言甚至可能会让我们成为更好的人，而且它总是无处不在。
一组荷兰研究人员报告说，积极的流言激励人们自我提高，负面的流言则使人更为自己感到骄傲。此外，参与者听到一则负面流言时的感受越差，他们就越可能说他们从中吸取了教训。到目前为止，对流言最积极的评价来自进化心理学家罗宾·邓巴。根据邓巴的叙述，我们的灵长类祖先通过梳理毛发聚集在一起，他们互相挠背以确保在掠食者攻击时能相互自卫。
但随着原始人类变得更加聪明和社会化，他们的群体变得太大，以至于不能仅仅通过梳理毛发而使他们聚集在一起。这时语言——广义而言的流言——就应运而生了。
所以下次当你忍不住想传播关于别人的流言时，别担心——事实上你可能是在促进合作，增强别人的自尊心，并履行人类社会的基本任务。