单选题 Loneliness has been linked to depression and other health problems. Now, a study says it can also spread. A friend of a lonely person was 52% more likely to develop feelings of loneliness. And a friend of that friend was 25% more likely to do the same. Earlier findings showed that happiness, fatness and the ability to stop smoking can also grow like infections within social groups. The findings all come from a major health study in the American town of Framingham, Massachusetts.
The study began in 1948 to investigate the causes of heart disease. Since then, more tests have been added, including measures of loneliness and depression. The new findings involved more than 5,000 people in the second generation of the Framingham Heart Study. The researchers examined friendship histories and reports of loneliness. The results established a pattern as people reported fewer close friends. For example, loneliness can affect relationships between next-door neighbors. The loneliness spreads as neighbors who were close friends now spend less time together. The study also found that loneliness spreads more easily among women than men.
Researchers from the University of Chicago, Harvard and the University of California, San Diego, did the study. The findings appeared last month in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology . The average person is said to experience feelings of loneliness about 48 days a year. The study found that having a lonely friend can add about 17 days. But every additional friend can decrease loneliness by about 5%, or two and a half days.
Lonely people become less and less trusting of others. This makes it more and more difficult for them to make friends—and more likely that society will reject them. John Cacioppo at the University of Chicago led the study. He says it is important to recognize and deal with loneliness. He says people who have been pushed to the edges of society should receive help to repair their social networks. The aim should be to aggressively create what he calls a "protective barrier" against loneliness. This barrier, he says, can keep the whole network from coming apart.

单选题 Besides loneliness, which of the following can also spread among people?

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] 细节判断题。本题为第一题，依据题目顺序与段落顺序一致的原则，需要从文章开头进行定位，根据四个选项词，可以定位到第一段“Earlier findings showed that happiness, fatness and the ability to stop smoking (戒烟) can also grow like infections within social groups”，即“早期的发现表明幸福、肥胖以及戒烟的能力会像传染病一样在社会群体内传播”，原文中“grow like infection”与题干中的“spread”为同义转化，而“the ability to stop smoking”与选项D中的“smoking”并非同义转化。利用friendship可以定位到第二段“The researchers examined friendship histories and reports of loneliness”，利用depression可以定位到第一段“Loneliness has been linked to depression”，都不是题干所要求的内容。因而，该题的正确答案为B。

单选题 The Framingham Heart Study starting from 1948 ______.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。利用题干关键词可以定位到第二段“The study began in 1948 to investigate the causes of heart disease. Since then, more tests have been added, including measures of loneliness and depression”，即“这项旨在调查心脏病起因的研究开始于1948年。从那时开始，更多的试验被列入其中，包括孤独感和抑郁症关系的测定”，由此可知研究内容又进行了拓展，其中选项中的“expanded”与原文中的“more tests have been added”为同义改写；B选项中说本实验涵盖5000人，而原文中是“more than 5000”；C选项原文没有提到；D选项也与原文不符，原文说的是检测包括对孤独和抑郁的测量，但没有说研究二者之间的关系“relationship”，因而也不是同义转化。因而，该题的正确答案为A。(干扰选项的特征包括信息程度的改变以及额外信息的添加等)

单选题 Which of the following is true about the spread of loneliness?

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。利用题干和选项A的关键词loneliness和friends可以定位到第四段“Lonely people become less and less trusting of others. This makes it more and more difficult for them to make friends—and more likely that society will reject them”，即“孤独导致人越来越难交到朋友而且比较可能为社会所抛弃”，由此可知孤独的人的朋友会越来越少，选项A与原文同义；利用选项B关键词women可以定位到第二段“The study also found that loneliness spreads more easily among women than men”，即“与男性相比，孤独更容易在女性中传染”，但由此不能得出“孤独在女性中是常见的现象”，故选项B与原文不是同义转化；利用选项C关键词neighborhood可以定位到第二段“The loneliness spreads as neighbors who were close friends now spend less time together”，即“当曾经是亲密友人的邻居逐渐疏远时，孤独感会传染”，而不是说孤独经常在邻居身上发现，选项C与原文不是同义的；利用选项D的关键词close friends可以定位到第二段“The results established a pattern as people reported fewer close friends”，即“孤独感容易在密友较少的人中传播”，而不是说它会破坏亲密友人之间的友谊，选项D与原文也不是同义改写。因而，该题的正确答案为A。

单选题 According to John Cacioppo at the University of Chicago, loneliness can ______.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。利用关键词可以定位到第四段“He says it is important to recognize and deal with loneliness. He says people who have been pushed to the edges of society should receive help to repair their social networks”，即“他说认识并处理好孤独感是很重要的。他认为曾被社会所孤立的人们应该接受帮助来修复他们的社会关系”。由此可知，孤独会影响到社会关系网，其他三个选项与原文都不是同义转化，因而答案为C。