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  3. There are more than 300 million of us in the United States, and sometimes it seems like we’re all friends on Facebook. But the s

There are more than 300 million of us in the United States, and sometimes it seems like we’re all friends on Facebook. But the s

admin2017-04-20  77
问题     There are more than 300 million of us in the United States, and sometimes it seems like we’re all friends on Facebook. But the sad truth is that Americans are lonelier than ever. Between 1985 and 2004, 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 raft 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 (25 percent of US households, up from 7 percent in 1940), 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 MySpace 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 confidante 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. "The most popular kid in school may still feel lonely," Cacioppo says. "There are a lot of stars who have been idols and lived lonely lives."
Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?
选项 A、There are approximately 8% of Americans who claimed to be lonely in 1985.
B、College sophomores tend to be lonelier than freshmen.
C、The more you expect of social interaction, the lonelier you feel if the reality is the reverse.
D、People who often feel lonely are likely to have lonely children.
答案B
解析 推断题。第三段倒数第三句提到大学新生在第一学期的后几个月就会慢慢交到新朋友，孤独感会有所缓和，由此推断，二年级学生的情况会比新生好一些，故[B]为答案。第一段第三句的关键在对“tripled to 25％”(增至25％)的理解上，由此可推算出1985年的数字应该约在8％，故排除[A]；第四段第一句给出孤独感的定义，当人们对社会交往的期望与实际情况产生了差异，就会产生孤独感，故排除[C]；第五段最后说对孤独的敏感可能会遗传，如果父母经常感到孤独的话，他们的孩子很有可能遗传了对孤独的敏感，故排除[D]。
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