Many people turn to doctors or self-help books,but they ignore a powerful thing that could help them fight illness;their friends.

  Researchers are only now starting to pay attention to the importance of friendship in health. A 10-year Australian study found that old people have a large circle of friends. A 2007 study showed an increase of nearly 60 percent in the risk(危险)for obesity(肥胖)among people whose friends gained weight. And last year,Harvard researchers reported that strong social ties could improve brain health as we age.

  "In general, the role of friendship in our lives isn't well realized," said Rebecca, a professor at the University of North Carolina. " Friendship has a bigger effect on our psychologi?cal(心理的)health than family relationships.”

  While many friendship studies are about the close relationships of women, some research shows that it can do good to men too. In a six-year study of 736 middle-aged men,having friendships reduces the risk of heart attack. Only smoking was as important a risk factor(因素) as having little social support.

  Exactly why friendship has such a big effect isn't entirely clear. While friends can send a sick person to the hospital or pick up medicine, the advantages go well beyond physical help. Friendship clearly has a big psychological effect. " People with stronger friendships feel like there is someone they can turn to," said Karen,a doctor. " The message of these studies is that friends make your life better.”

(   ) 1. The three studies in Paragraph 2 show that      

A.     old people need friends the most

B.     friends can help us lose weight

C.     social ties(关系)are connected to health

D.     more friends make us healthier

(   ) 2. What do Rebecca's words in Paragraph 3 mean?

A. Friendship has no effect on people's physical health.

B.     What people need most is friends.

C.     Friendship is more important than family relationship.

D.    The value of friendship hasn't been fully understood.

(   ) 3. The author mentioned smoking in the text to discuss      

A. the cause of heart attack    B. the risk of having no friends

C. smoking is bad for men    D. friends' influence on habits

(   ) 4. What would be the best title of the text?

A.     Friends Are the Best Medicine

B.     Friends Are as Important as a Family

C.     Having Good Friends Leads to a Longer Life

D.     Friendship Makes People Happy

 Going back as far as I can remember as a child in an Indian area,I had no senses of know?ing about the other people around me except that we were all somehow equal. . . There was only one class. Nobody was interested in getting on top of anybody else.

  You could see it in our games. Nobody organized them. There weren't any competitive sports. But we took part in lots of activities and we were organized, but not in the sense that there were wars of finding out who had won and who had lost. We played balls like everyone else,but no one kept scores. Even if we did formally take part in the games we played, no one was a winner though someone may have won. It was only at that moment. If you beat someone by pulling a bow and arrow and shooting the arrow further, it didn't mean you were better in any way. It just meant that at that particular time the arrow went further;maybe it was just the way you let the bow go. These kinds of things are very important to me and that is why I am talking about them.

  One of the very important things was the relationship we had with our families. We didn't always live at home. We lived wherever we happened to be at that particular time when it got dark. If you were two or three miles away from home,then that was where you slept. 

(   ) 1. According to the passage above, which of the following can be inferred?

A.     All the children were kind and equal in different activities.

B.     All the children quarreled with each other in every game.

C.     Children often took part in different fightings.

D.     Every child tired their best to climb to the top of all the activities.

(   ) 2. What does the underlined word "competitive" in Paragraph 2 probably mean?

A. United. B. Breaking. C. Common. D. Fighting.
(   ) 3. From the passage, we can infer that      

A.     they pretended to lose when they could win the games

B.     they didn't think it was very important who was the winner among their activities

C.     they didn't hold any activities which could produce winners or losers

D.     they thought it was a good idea that no one could win in their activities
(   ) 4. In their area,it was said that      

A.     people could spend their nights anywhere whether it was their home or not

B.     people only served their friends to spend their nights at home

C.     people had to return to their home to spend their nights whether they were far away or not

D. strange people had to spend their nights in the field when it got dark

 I have a rule for travel:never carry a map. I prefer to ask for directions.

  Foreign visitors are often puzzled in Japan because most streets there don't have names. In Japan, people use landmarks in their directions instead of street names. For example, the Japanese will say to travelers, " Go straight down to the corner. Turn left at the big hotel and go past a fruit market. The post office is across from the bus stop."

  In the countryside of the American Midwest, usually there are not many landmarks. There are no mountains, so the land is very flat(平坦的).In many places there are no towns or build?ings within miles. Instead of landmarks, people will tell you directions and distance. In Kansas or Iowa,for example, people will say, "Go north two miles. Turn east,and then go another mile.”

  People in Los Angeles, California, have no idea of distance on the map―they measure(测量)distance by means of time,not miles. "How far away is the post office?" you ask. "Oh," they answer, "it's about five minutes from here. " You say, "Yes,but how many miles away is it?" They don't know.

  People in Greece sometimes do not even try to give directions because visitors seldom understand the Greek language. Instead of giving you the direction, a Greek will often say, "Follow me.”Then he'll lead you through the streets of the city to the post office.

  Sometimes a person doesn't know the answer to your question. What happens in this situa?tion ('清形)?A New Yorker might say, "Sorry,I have no idea. "But in Yucatan, Mexico, no one answers "I don't know". People in Yucatan think that "I don't know" is impolite. They usually give an answer, often a wrong one. A visitor can get very,very lost in Yucatan!

  One thing will help you everywhere―in Japan,in the United States, in Greece, in Mexico, or in any other place. You might not understand a person's words, but maybe you can understand his body language. He or she will usually turn and then point in the correct direction. Go in that direction, and you may find the post office!

(   ) 1. The passage mainly tells us that      

A.     never carry a map for travel

B.     there are not many landmarks in the world

C.     there are different ways to give directions in different parts of the world

D.     directions are hard to give in some places

(   ) 2. The passage says, "In Japan, people use landmarks in their directions.”The word "landmarks" means      

A.     building and street names

B.     pictures to draw attention of the visitors

C.     hotels, markets and bus stops

D.     buildings or places which are easily recognized

(   ) 3. There is a place mentioned above in which people tell distance by means of time. Which of the following places may be the one?

A.     Los Angeles, California.

B.     American Midwest.

C.     Japan and some Asian countries.

D.     All across the Europe.

(   ) 4. According to the passage, which of the following is WRONG?

A.     Travelers can learn about people's customs by asking questions about directions.

B.     Directions are not known in some places.

C.     A person's body language can help you understand directions in a foreign country.

D.     People in some places give directions in miles,but there are still some people in other places giving directions by means of time.

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