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  3. The human desire for companionship may feel boundless, but research suggests that our social capital is finite—we can handle onl

The human desire for companionship may feel boundless, but research suggests that our social capital is finite—we can handle onl

admin2020-11-04  297
问题    The human desire for companionship may feel boundless, but research suggests that our social capital is finite—we can handle only so many relationships at one time. Social scientists have used a number of ingenious (巧妙的) approaches to measure the size of people’s social networks; these have returned estimates ranging from about 250 to about 5,500 people. Looking more specifically at friendship, a study using the exchange of Christmas cards as an indicator for closeness put the average person’s friend group at about 121 people.
   However vast our networks may be, our inner circle tends to be much smaller. The average American trusts only 10 to 20 people. Moreover, that number may be shrinking: From 1985 to 2004, the average number of confidants that people reported having decreased from three to two. This is both sad and consequential, because people who have strong social relationships tend to live longer than those who don’t.
   So what should you do if your social life is lacking? To begin with, don’t dismiss the humble acquaintance. Even interacting with people with whom one has weak social ties has a meaningful influence on well-being. Beyond that, building deeper friendships may be largely a matter of putting in time. A recent study out of the University of Kansas found that it takes about 50 hours of socializing to go from an acquaintance to a casual friend, an additional 40 hours to become a "real" friend, and a total of 200 hours to become a close friend.
   If that sounds like too much effort, reviving dormant (休眠的) social ties can be especially rewarding. Reconnected friends can quickly recapture much of the trust they previously built.
   The academic literature is clear: Longing for closeness and connection is pervasive (无处不在的), which suggests that most of us are stumbling through the world looking for companionship that could be easily provided by the lonesome stumblers all around us. So set aside this article, turn to someone nearby, and try to make a friend.
According to the author, "humble acquaintance" (Lines 1-2, Para. 3) most probably means"______".
选项 A、people with humble social status
B、people who are stumbling through the world
C、people with whom one has weak social ties
D、people around us
答案C
解析 语义理解题。第三段第三句指出，即使跟与你的社会关系薄弱的人交往，也会对幸福产生有意义的影响，故不起眼的熟人很可能是指平时跟你交往不密切的人。humble用在名词前可表示“普通却有用的”意思，故答案为C)。A)“社会地位卑微的人”，由定位句及下一句可知，作者并非指社会地位卑微的人，故排除；B)“在这世上磕磕绊绊而行的人”，第五段第一句指出我们中的大多数人都在这世上磕磕绊绊地寻找朋友，但不符合此处文意，故排除；D)“我们身边的朋友”，所指范围太笼统，故排除。
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