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  3. There are more than 300 million of us in the U.S., and sometimes it seems like we’re all friends on Facebook. But the sad truth

There are more than 300 million of us in the U.S., and sometimes it seems like we’re all friends on Facebook. But the sad truth

admin2022-07-29  22
问题     There are more than 300 million of us in the U.S., and sometimes it seems like we’re all friends on Facebook. But the sad truth is that Americans are lonelier than ever. Between 2005 and 2019, the number of people who said there was no one with whom they discussed important matters tripled, to 25 percent, according to Duke University researchers. Unfortunately, as a new study linking women to increased risk of heart disease shows, all this loneliness can be detrimental to our health.
    The bad news doesn’t just affect women. Social isolation in all adults has been linked to a lot of physical and mental ailments, including sleep disorders, high blood pressure, and an increased risk of depression and suicide. How lonely you feel today actually predicts how well you’ll sleep tonight and how depressed you’ll feel a year from now, says John T. Cacioppo, a neuroscientist at the University of Chicago and coauthor of Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection. Studies have shown that loneliness can cause stress levels to rise and can weaken the immune system. Lonely people also tend to have less healthy lifestyles, drinking more alcohol, eating more fattening food, and exercising less than those who are not lonely.
    Though more Americans than ever are living alone (23 percent of U.S. households, up from 7 percent in 200O), the connection between single-living and loneliness is in fact quite weak. "Some of the most profound loneliness can happen when other people are present," says Harry Reis, professor of psychology at the University of Rochester. Take college freshmen: even though they’re surrounded by people almost all the time, many feel incredibly isolated during the first quarter of the school year with their friends and family members far away, Cacioppo says. Studies have shown that how lonely freshmen will feel can be predicted by how many miles they are from home. By the second quarter, however, most freshmen have found social replacements for their high-school friends. Unfortunately, as we age, it becomes more difficult to recreate those social relationships. And that can be a big problem as America becomes a more transient society, with an increasing number of Americans who say that they’re willing to move away from home for a job.
    Loneliness can be relative: it has been defined as an aversive emotional response to a perceived discrepancy between a person’s desired levels of social interaction and the contact they’re actually receiving. People tend to measure themselves against others, feeling particularly alone in communities where social connection is the norm. That’s why collectivist cultures, like those in Southern Europe, have higher levels of loneliness than individualist cultures, Cacioppo says. For the same reason, isolated individuals feel most acutely alone on holidays like Christmas Eve or Thanksgiving, when most people are surrounded by family and friends.
    Still, loneliness is a natural biological signal that we all have. Indeed, loneliness serves an adaptive purpose, making us protect and care for one another. Loneliness essentially puts the brain on high alert, encouraging us not to eat leftovers from the refrigerator but to call a friend and eat out. Certain situational factors can trigger loneliness, but long-term feelings of emptiness and isolation are partly genetic, Cacioppo says. What’s inherited is not loneliness itself, but rather sensitivity to disconnection.
    Social-networking sites like Facebook and Twitter may provide people with a false sense of connection that ultimately increases loneliness in people who feel alone. These sites should serve as a supplement, but not replacement for, face-to-face interaction, Cacioppo says. For people who feel satisfied and loved in their day-to-day life, social media can be a reassuring extension. For those who are already lonely, Facebook status updates are just a reminder of how much better everyone else is at making friends and having fun. So how many friends do you need to avoid loneliness? An introvert might need one confidant not to feel lonely, whereas an extrovert might require two, three, or four bosom buddies. Experts say it’s not the quantity of social relationships but the quality that really matters.
Which of the following is NOT among the factors that may cause people to feel lonely?
选项 A、Holiday atmosphere.
B、Being far away from family and friends.
C、Less healthy lifestyles.
D、Sensitivity to isolation.
答案C
解析 本题关键词是factors和feel lonely，问题是：以下哪个因素不会使人感到孤独?需要定位全文。根据第二段最后一句可知，“不太健康的生活方式”是孤独感带来的后果之一，而不是造成孤独的原因(cause)，因此选项C属于因果倒置，为正确选项。第四段第四句指出，在圣诞节或感恩节这样的团聚时刻，独处的人会感到格外孤独，所以假期氛围(Holiday atmosphere)是导致人们感到孤独的一个因素，因此选项A与原文一致。第三段第三至五句通过大学新生的例子说明造成孤独感的一个原因是远离家人和朋友，因此选项B符合原文。第五段最后提到，孤独感在一定程度上是由基因引起的，因为对孤独的敏感性(sensitivity)可能会遗传，因此选项D和原文是相同含义。第一段：研究表明：美国人感到越来越孤独，这对健康是有害的。第二段：孤独会对健康产生各种影响，引起各种疾病。第三段：孤独与独居之间并没有太大的联系。第四段：孤独是相对的，对社会交往的期望与实际情况的差异会让人产生孤独感。第五段：孤独感具有适应性，长期孤独感多是基因遗传。第六段：社交网站会加重孤独者的孤独感，重要的是交友质量，而非数量。
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