Feeling lonely can make you sick. Doctors have long known that loneliness can cause many health problems and even death. What they didn’t know is   16  this feeling causes illness. A study in the online magazine Genome Biology  17  that loneliness actually influences the important part of our bodies—our genes.
In a small population of patients, researchers   18  more than 20,000 genes to compare how the genes of lonely and non-lonely individuals (个体) express themselves in molecular processes (分子过程) and in personal health. They found that gene expression is   19  in chronically (长期地) lonely people. “We now have a new way for understanding the relationship   20   social experience and physical health,” explains the study’s lead author, Steve Cole of University of California, Los Angeles.
“This study—the first to link (联系)   21  with gene changes—is special and exciting,” says Emma Adam, a professor of human development at Northwestern University. “It   22  in the black box.”
According to John Cacioppo, an author of the study from the University of Chicago, the
work suggests that loneliness is a warning   23 , much like physical pain. “This feeling is so bad because   24  of us wants to be forgotten; that’ s also what human means,” he says. “It makes us   25  for other people and want to be with friends when we’re lonely.”

短文填空

请认真阅读下面短文，并根据各题所给首字母的提示，写出一个合适的英语单词完整、正确的形式，使短文通顺。

Whenever Kate goes to the hospital, she sees many patients there. She hopes to help them, so Kate wants to be a nurse when she 1.g   ▲   up.

Last summer Kate broke her right 2.l   ▲  . The pain was serious and she could not even walk. She got to the hospital by car and the doctor said that she had to 3.s   ▲   there for about two weeks.

One afternoon a 4.n   ▲   came to Kate’s bed and said with a smile, “You are getting 5.b   ▲  . You can walk again soon, so don’t think only about bad things. Try to be happy!” The nurse was very kind and they became good 6.f   ▲  .

After Kate 7.l   ▲   the hospital, she thought a lot about the kind nurse. She now understands that the 8.w   ▲   of nurses is very important, because they often give hope to the 9.s   ▲  .

Now Kate is thinking about her own future. She often talks with her parents about it. She knows what she should do to become a good nurse, and now she is10.s   ▲   very hard at school.

阅读下列短文，从每小题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中选出最佳选项。
Mr Black works in a hospital (医院). As a good  1 , the people in the town like him. He’s often  2 to the patients (病人) and looks them over    carefully.  3  he’s always busy and has little time to rest.
One morning Mr Black got to the hospital and saw there was a fat woman in the  4 . He called her into his office and asked, “  5 , madam ?”
“It was my birthday yesterday, sir”, said the woman. “My husband gave me a  6 . But I couldn’t push my way in (挤进) it.”
“  7 , madam,” said Mr Black, “You must lose some weight (减肥). You’ll be able to  8 your coat, if you do all that I say.”
“You’re  9 , sir,” said the rich woman. “He bought me not a coat, but an expensive  10 .”

Mr Chen is a farmer who   1  in western China with his wife and two sons. One year ago, he discovered that he had cancer. The doctor told him that he needed   2  at once. And he said the operation would   3  thousands of yuan. It was too much money for Mr Chen and his wife. They had no job and    4   were at school. The situation seemed  5 .
Two weeks later, however, Mr Chen got some   6  news. He was told about a health care project which provides medical treatment for poor patients in   7  China. They  8  to pay only half the cost or even less. Thanks to the project and the kindness of  9  family and neighbours, he was able to receive an operation just   10  to prevent the illness from getting worse.  11  he has returned to his family.
The   12  of this health care project is to improve the situation for poor people in western China. So far, the project has helped more than 5,000 people   13  medical aid. The Chinese government is   14  working together with other countries and international organizations to do this. They hope to develop a new health care model   15  China. As our country develops, we must remember the responsibilities(责任) of caring for the weakest members.

Try reading the following sentences as fast as you can. “She sells seashells by the seashore. The shells she sells are surely seashells. So if she sells shells on the seashore, I’m sure she sells seashore shells.”

Not very easy, was it? What you’ve just read is called a tongue twister (绕口令). It is an exercise made up of sounds that are hard to pronounce(发音，读) in order to help people pronounce words faster and more correctly. Try the next example.

“Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper. Did Peter Piper pick a peck of pickled peppers? If Pete Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?”

Tongue twisters usually do not have much meaning. They are just designed to improve people’s ability  to pronounce words. Although they may be very difficult, these exercises are very important to people who are trying to speak English correctly. This is because tongue twisters help people to tell the differences between similar sounds.

So if you wish to pronounce words more smoothly, you’d better try picking out some tongue twisters and practicing them.

1.Tongue twisters are helpful in improving ___________ skills.

A. listening        B. writing      C. pronunciation     D. communication

2.The first tongue twister is hard because ___________.

A. it is very boring to read            B. it teaches us a lot of knowledge

C. we don’t know who “she” is        D. the sounds of “s” and “sh” are similar

3.The passage is probably taken from _________ in a school newspaper.

A. Story Time          B. Study Garden

C. Latest News          D. Lost and Found