Alexis Pilkington was a popular 17-year-old and a well-liked athlete who had already won a soccer scholarship to college. But none of that stopped Alexis from becoming the target of online bullying (欺凌). Alexis began to receive hundreds of online unpleasant comments via the latest social networking site called www.formspring.com. In March 2010, Alexis committed suicide and although all agreed that the online bother was not the single factor that led to Alexis’ death, everyone did agree that it was a contributory factor.
Unfortunately, Alexis’ story is not unique. A 2010 study conducted by the Cyberbullying Research Center showed that cyberbullying victims were almost twice as likely to have attempted suicide compared to youth who had not experienced cyberbullying.
Suicide is obviously the extreme and no one can minimize the tragedy of it. However, there are other damages that occur as a result of aggressive bullying. It can damage self-esteem and lead to feelings of worthlessness, and also increase social isolation and make victims become withdrawn, depressed, anxious, and insecure. So what causes girls to be so unkind towards each other?
A term known as relational aggression may best describe the cause of girl-on-girl bullying. It starts with a clique (派系) usually led by a girl with a high level of social status and popularity. In order not to lose her position, she will control girls within the clique and take action if she feels threatened. At the leader’s directive the girls within the clique will spread rumors and lies and annoy other girls continuously. The bullying starts at school but will quickly go to cyberbullying due to anonymity (匿名). Girls will easily do so in the anonymity of the Internet. Ultimately the cause will be summarized as the insecurity and jealousy of one girl and the twisted loyalty of members within her clique. Underneath the confident exterior (外表) of a female bully lie desperate insecurities.
The example of Alexis Pilkington is given to show        .

A．popular youth are not easy to become the target of bullying

B．cyberbullying is quite common among teenagers

C．today’s youth don’t like to study any more

D．suicide is a serious problem among youth

The bullying will quickly go to cyberbullying mainly because         .

A．the bullies don’t have to give their names online

B．it’s free to post comments online

C．it will not attract much attention

D．it will not affect their real life

Which of the following is NOT the cause of bullying?

A．Lack of security.

B．Jealousy of others.

C．Trying to be friendly.

D．The twisted loyalty of members within a clique.

We can infer from the last paragraph that a female bully         .

A．has strong self-confidence	B．has strong leadership skills
C．is actually weak inside	D．is usually good at study