Passage Two
Questions 51 to 55 are based on the following passage.
Trolls are a classic fairy tale staple, but within the last decade, the word has taken on a new meaning in the internet age. Merriam-Webster redefined the term in 2017 to describe the act of annoying others online through “posting inflammatory (煽动性的), irrelevant, or offensive comments.”
In the research out of Ohio State University, 33 students said they had “reached out on Facebook for help when depressed.” Half of them reported symptoms consistent with moderate to severe depression and around a third reported recently having suicidal thoughts. Only one of the students in the study directly asked for help, and only three actually mentioned the word “depression.” The others hinted at their depression by using quotes about sadness (5 percent), a negative emoji (5 percent), sad song lyrics (15 percent), or by writing sentences like “Things couldn’t get any worse” (45 percent).
“They didn’t use words like ‘depressed’ in their Facebook posts. It may be because of the stigma around mental illness,” Scottye Cash, an associate professor of social work at Ohio State University and lead author of the study, said in a statement. “Or maybe they didn’t know that their symptoms indicated that they were depressed.”
Either way, these students said that none of their friends responded the way mental health experts say you should, which is to recommend that they seek professional help. The most common response was to say something supportive (35 percent), ask what was wrong (19 percent), send a private message or contact the friend outside of Facebook (11 percent), or simply “like” the post (11 percent).
It can be difficult to tell a friend they should seek professional help, especially in an online forum, as you don’t want them to get offended or think you’re implying something’s wrong with them. But the experts say that doing so is the best move you can make for them in the long-term. “It makes me concerned that none of the Facebook friends of students in this study were proactive (积极主动的) in helping their friend get help,” Cash said. “We need to increase mental health literacy and decrease mental health stigma.”
51. What does the first paragraph mainly talk about?
A) The change of the meaning of a word over years.
B) The loss of the original meaning of a word.
C) The emptiness of those classic fairy tales.
D) The evolution of the Merriam-Webster dictionary.