Being sociable looks like a good way to add years to your life. Relationships with family, friends, neighbours, even pets, will all do the trick, but the biggest longevity (长寿) boost seems to come from marriage or an equivalent relationship. The effect was first noted in 1858 by William Farr, who wrote that widows (寡妇)and widowers  were at a much higher risk of dying than their married peers. Studies since then suggest that marriage could add as much as seven years to a man’s life and two to a woman’s. The effect holds for all causes of death, whether illness, accident or self-harm.

　　Even if the odds are stacked against you, marriage can more than compensate. Linda Waite of the University of Chicago has found that a married older man with heart disease can expect to live nearly four years longer than an unmarried man with a healthy heart. Likewise, a married man who smokes more than a pack a day is likely to live as long as a divorced man who doesn’t smoke. There’s a flip side, however, as partners are more likely to become ill or die in the couple of years following their spouse’s death, and caring for a spouse with mental disorder can leave you with some of the same severe problems. Even so, the odds favour marriage. In a 30-year study of more than 10,000 people, Nicholas Christakis of Harvard Medical School describes how all kinds of social networks have similar effects.

　　So how does it work? The effects are complex, affected by socio-economic factors, health-service provision, emotional support and other more physiological (生理的) mechanisms. For example, social contact can boost development of the brain and immune system, leading to better health and less chance of depression later in life. People in supportive relationships may handle stress better. Then there are the psychological benefits of a supportive partner.

　　A life partner, children and good friends are all recommended if you aim to live to 100. The ultimate social network is still being mapped out, but Christakis says: “People are interconnected, so their health is interconnected.”

1.William Farr’s study and other studies show that _________.

　　A .social life provides an effective cure for illness

　　B. being sociable helps improve one’s quality of life

　　C. women benefit more than men from marriage

　　D. marriage contributes a great deal to longevity

2.Linda Waite’s studies support the idea that _________.

　　A. older men should quit smoking to stay healthy

　　B. marriage can help make up for ill health

　　C. the married are happier than the unmarried

　　D. unmarried people are likely to suffer in later life

3.It can be inferred from the context that the “flip side” (Line 4, Para. 2) refers to _________.

　　A. the disadvantages of being married

　　B. the emotional problems arising from marriage

　　C. the responsibility of taking care of one’s family

　　D. the consequence of a broken marriage

4. What does the author say about social networks?

　　A. They have effects similar to those of a marriage.

　　B. They help develop people’s community spirit.

　　C. They provide timely support for those in need.

　　D. They help relieve people of their life’s burdens.

5.What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

　　A. It’s important that we develop a social network when young.

　　B. To stay healthy, one should have a proper social network.

　　C. Getting a divorce means risking a reduced life span.

　　D. We should share our social networks with each other.

Are you a social butterfly, or do you prefer being at the edge of a group of friends? Either way, your genes and evolution may play a major  1  , US researchers reported on Monday.

While it may come as no surprise that genes may help explain  2  some people have many friends and others have  3  , the researchers said, their findings go just a little farther than that.

"Some of the things we find are  4    uncommon," said Nicholas Christakis of Harvard University in Massachusetts, who helped   5  the study.

"We find that how interconnected your friends are   6   on your genes. Some people have four friends who know each other and some people have four friends who don't  7  each other.  8     Dick and Harry know each other depends on Tom's  9    ," Christakis said in a telephone interview.

Christakis and colleague James Fowler of the University of California San Diego are  10     known for their studies that show obesity, smoking and happiness spread in networks.

For this study, they and Christopher Dawes of UCSD used national data that   11   more than 1,000 identical(同卵的) and fraternal（异卵的） twins’ genes. Because  12  share an environment, these studies are good for showing the impact that genes have  13  various things, because identical twins  14  all their genes while fraternal twins share just half.

"We found there appears to be a genetic tendency to introduce your friends  15  each other," Christakis said.

There could be good, evolutionary reasons  16  this. People in the middle of a social network could be secret to useful gossip,  17   the location of food or good investment choices.

But they would also be at risk of catching effects from all sides -- in which case the advantage would  18   more cautious social behavior, they wrote in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"It may be that natural selection is  19  not just things like whether or not we can resist the common cold, but also who it is that we are going to come into  20   with," Fowler said in a statement.

(    ) 1. A. role                 B. rule           C. roll                  D. pole

(    ) 2. A. where              B. why          C. when                D. how

(    ) 3. A. a few                      B. several      C. few                  D. some

(    ) 4. A. generally          B. mainly      C. mostly              D. frankly

(    ) 5. A. conduct            B. introduce   C. conflict            D. instruct

(    ) 6. A. depends            B. bases         C. take                 D. put

(    ) 7. A. see                   B. inspect      C. learn                D. know

(    ) 8. A. When               B. Where       C. What                D. Whether

(    ) 9. A. genes                      B. brains        C. appearances      D. figures

(    ) 10. A. much             B. best           C. very                 D. least

(    ) 11. A. recorded         B. illustrated C. described          D. compared

(    ) 12. A. brothers          B. sisters        C. twins                D. cousins

(    ) 13. A. with                      B. on             C. for                   D. to

(    ) 14. A. share              B. have          C. own                 D. show

(    ) 15. A. into                B. to             C. in                    D. from

(    ) 16. A. for                 B. with          C. to                    D. at

(    ) 17. A. in addition to B. due to       C. as for                      D. such as

(    ) 18. A. lie on             B. bring in     C. lie in                D. send in

(    ) 19. A. acting on               B. putting on C. relying on         D. sending on

(    ) 20. A. contract          B. face          C. join                  D. contact

Happiness is contagious (有感染力的), as researchers reported on Thursday.

People with the most social connections — spouses, friends, neighbors and relatives — were also the happiest, the data showed. “Each additional happy person makes you happier,” Christakis said.

“Imagine that I am connected to you and you are connected to others and others are connected to still others. It is this fabric of humanity, like an American patch quilt.”

Each person sits on a different colored patch. “Imagine that these patches are happy and unhappy patches. Your happiness depends on what is going on in the patch around you,” Christakis said.

“It is not just happy people connecting with happy people, which they do. Above and beyond, there is this contagious process going on.”

And happiness is more contagious than unhappiness, they discovered.

“If a social contact is happy, it increases the likelihood that you are happy by 15 percent, ” Fowler said. “A friend of a friend, or the friend of a spouse or a sibling (兄弟姐妹), if they are happy, increases your chances by 10 percent,” he added.

A happy third degree friend — the friend of a friend of a friend — increases a person’s chances of being happy by 6 percent.

“But every extra unhappy friend increases the likelihood that you’ll be unhappy by 7 percent,” Fowler said.

The finding is interesting and it is useful, too, Fowler said.

“Among other benefits, happiness has been shown to have an important effect on reduced mortality (死亡率), pain reduction, and improved cardiac (心脏的) function. So better understanding of how happiness spreads can help us learn how to develop a healthier society,” he said.

The study also fits in with other data suggested in 1984 that having $ 5,000 extra increased a person’s chances of becoming happier by about 2 percent.

“A happy friend is worth about $ 20,000,” Christakis said.

1.It can be inferred that________.

A．happiness spreads as fast and widely as unhappiness

B．unhappiness spreads faster and more widely than happiness

C．happiness spreads faster and more widely than unhappiness

D．the spread of unhappiness has not been studied by researchers

2.Which of the following will increase your chances of becoming happier most?

A．Being in a party with a happy atmosphere.

B．A happy experience of your brother or your parents.

C．A happy trip to a foreign country of your friends.

D．Happiness of your friend’s friend.

3.What does Christakis mean by saying “A happy friend is worth about $ 20,000”?

A．A happy friend can help you bring in a wealth of $ 20,000.

B．A happy friend is a wealth which is worth about $ 20,000.

C．A happy friend increases your chances of being happy by 2%.

D．A happy friend increases your chances of being happy by 8 %.

Being sociable looks like a good way to add years to your life. Relationships with family, friends, neighbours, even pets, will all do the trick, but the biggest longevity (长寿) boost seems to come from marriage or an equivalent relationship. The effect was first noted in 1858 by William Farr, who wrote that widows (寡妇)and widowers  were at a much higher risk of dying than their married peers. Studies since then suggest that marriage could add as much as seven years to a man’s life and two to a woman’s. The effect holds for all causes of death, whether illness, accident or self-harm.
　　Even if the odds are stacked against you, marriage can more than compensate. Linda Waite of the University of Chicago has found that a married older man with heart disease can expect to live nearly four years longer than an unmarried man with a healthy heart. Likewise, a married man who smokes more than a pack a day is likely to live as long as a divorced man who doesn’t smoke. There’s a flip side, however, as partners are more likely to become ill or die in the couple of years following their spouse’s death, and caring for a spouse with mental disorder can leave you with some of the same severe problems. Even so, the odds favour marriage. In a 30-year study of more than 10,000 people, Nicholas Christakis of Harvard Medical School describes how all kinds of social networks have similar effects.
　　So how does it work? The effects are complex, affected by socio-economic factors, health-service provision, emotional support and other more physiological (生理的) mechanisms. For example, social contact can boost development of the brain and immune system, leading to better health and less chance of depression later in life. People in supportive relationships may handle stress better. Then there are the psychological benefits of a supportive partner.
　　A life partner, children and good friends are all recommended if you aim to live to 100. The ultimate social network is still being mapped out, but Christakis says: “People are interconnected, so their health is interconnected.”
【小题1】William Farr’s study and other studies show that _________.

Playing with toy blocks (积木) may lead to improved language development in young children, a new study reported.

    Early childhood is an important period in the development of young minds. The newborn brain grows three times in size between birth and age 2. Scientists have said that certain activities during this important period may promote (促进) healthy development while others may hold it back, and development of memory and language may especially be helped by imaginative play.

    After six months, language scores among half of the 175 children aged 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 who were sent plastic blocks were 15 percent higher than a matched group that did not receive the free blocks, according to the study by researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle.

    Parents were given ideas about how to help their children play with the blocks, then were told to keep diaries of their children’s activities over four days. Finally, all the parents filled out questionnaires that judged their children’s vocabulary, grammar, and other language abilities. Study author Dimitri Christakis said unstructured play with blocks motivated children’s thinking, memory and physical skills at a time when a child’s brain is growing rapidly. “They are the foundation of thought and language,” he wrote of the skills learned from building blocks. “Older children begin to make up stories for these objects .”

Such play may also take the place of less helpful activities such as watching TV, he said, adding parents ought to have doubts about some toy-makers’ words. “An increasing number of media-based products are making ungrounded (无根据的) claims that they can make children smarter, more literate, and more musical,” Christakis said.

1.What can we learn from the second paragraph?

A. Parents should allow their children to play as long as they want.

B. The brains of kids develop very quickly before they are two years old.

C. Playing blocks can help children do well in sports at school.

D. Activities, like imaginative play, may delay the development of the brain.

2.According to the study, about ________ children’s language scores were 15 percent higher than those of children who didn’t play with blocks.

A. 87         B. 55     C. 23       D. 157

3.Building blocks helps kids gain language skills because _________.

A. young children always talk to themselves while building blocks

B. their parents can teach them when they are playing with blocks

C. their parents are given ideas on how to develop their brains

D. it can help them improve thinking, memory and physical skills

4.The aim of the passage is probably to _______.

A. raise the present level of children’s language ability

B. encourage parents to let their babies play with blocks

C. improve parents’ knowledge of raising children

D. encourage makers of blocks to develop more toys

5.We can infer from what Mr Christakis said that _____.

A. television will be definitely replaced by blocks

B. the market will be full of media-based toys

C. we can’t always believe what toy makers say

D. toy makers care about kids’ development very much