Question

In the quest for better health, many people turn to doctors, self help books or herbal supplements. But they overlook a powerful weapon that could help them fight illness and depression, speed recovery, slow aging and prolong life: their friends.

Researchers are only now starting to pay attention to the importance of friendship and social networks in overall health. A 10-year Australian study found that older people with a large circle of friends were 22 percent less likely to die during the study period than those with fewer friends. A large 2007 study showed an increase of nearly 60 percent in the risk for obesity among people whose friends gained weight. And last year, Harvard researchers reported that strong social ties could promote brain health as we age.

“In general, the role of friendship in our lives isn’ t well appreciated,” said Rebecca G. Adams, a professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. “There are a lot of things on families and marriage, but very little on friendship. It baffles me. Friendship has a bigger impact on our psychological well being than family relationships.”

Bella DePaulo, a visiting psychology professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, whose work focuses on single people and friendships, notes that in many studies, friendship has an even greater effect on health than a spouse or a family member.

It isn’ t entirely clear why friendship has such a big effect. It may be because people with strong social ties also have better access to health services and care. Beyond that, however, friendship clearly has a profound psychological effect. People with strong friendships are less likely than others to get colds, perhaps because they have lower stress levels.

Last year, researchers studied 34 students at the University of Virginia, taking them to the base of a steep hill and fitting them with a weighted backpack. They were then asked to estimate the steepness of the hill. Some participants stood next to friends during the exercise, while others were alone.

The students who stood with friends gave lower estimates of the steepness of the hill. And the longer the friends had known each other, the less steep the hill appeared.

“People with stronger friendship networks feel like there is someone they can turn to，” said Karen A．Roberto, director of the center for gerontology (老年医学) at Virginia Tech.“ Friendship is an undervalued resource. The consistent message of these studies is that friends make your life better.”

1.What’ s the main idea of the passage?

A. People should make friends as many as possible.

B. Friendships do great good to human health.

C. People with friends have optimistic attitude.

D. Several studies have been done on friendships.

2.Which of the following is true?

A. People haven’t attached importance to friendships.

B. A friend can replace doctors and self?help books.

C. People with many friends may have higher stress levels.

D. People who have friends tend to be fat.

3.The author mentioned the study in the last three paragraphs to indicate that ________.

A. students should climb the steep hill with friends

B. it takes a long time to make friends

C. a friend in need is a friend indeed

D. people accompanied by friends remain optimistic in the face of difficulty

4.In Paragraph 2 the author aims to tell us ________.

A. friendship has a strong physical effect on people’s health

B. we cannot be too careful when making friends

C. older people are likely to have fewer friends

D. 60 percent of the people without friends will become fat when they get old

5.According to Karen A. Roberto, ________.

A. the effect of friendships is overvalued

B. studies on friendships make our life better

C. friends are more important than family members

D. friends can help each other when faced with problems

 

Answer 1

1.B

2.A

3.D

4.A

5.D

【解析】

试题分析：如何保持身心健康？相信每个人对此都很感兴趣并能给出自己的答案。本文作者向我们介绍了一个有利于身心健康的，很重要又长期被人们忽视的因素——友谊。

1.主旨大意题。文章通过几个研究结果说明友谊在促进人类身心健康方面作用巨大

2.正误判断题。从文章第三段可知，人们尚未认识到友谊对人们身心健康的重要性。其他选项均与原文信息不符。

3.推理判断题。倒数第二段中“The students who stood with friends gave lower estimates of the steepness of the hill。”表明与朋友在一起的学生估计出来的坡度更小，这意味着他们面对困难能保持相对乐观的心态，故选D项。

4.段落大意题。根据本段开头(主题句)可知答案。而且主题句后的三个研究结论都与“友谊影响身体健康”有关，故选A项。

5.推理判断题。由文章最后一段的第一句可推断出，有问题的时候朋友之间可以相互帮助，A、B、C三项不符合原文。

考点：日常生活类阅读。