题目

What is the main idea of the passage?Passage One 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 that spread 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.A、Loneliness can spread.B、Loneliness is linked to depression.C、Lonely people tend to grow fat.D、Lonely people need more friends.

What is the main idea of the passage?Passage One 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 that spread 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.
  • A、Loneliness can spread.
  • B、Loneliness is linked to depression.
  • C、Lonely people tend to grow fat.
  • D、Lonely people need more friends.

题目解答

答案

A

解析

考查要点：本题考查学生对文章主旨的把握能力，需要从整体内容中提炼核心观点。
解题思路：首先明确文章的核心论点，再对比选项，排除干扰项。文章重点在于孤独的传播性，而非单一现象或次要结论。
关键点：注意文章多次出现的“spread”（传播）关键词，以及研究数据对这一结论的支撑。

步骤1：定位文章核心
文章开篇指出“孤独不仅与健康问题相关，还会传播”，并通过具体数据（如“52%”“25%”）说明传播规律，后续内容围绕传播机制、性别差异、应对策略展开，均服务于孤独的传播性这一核心。

步骤2：分析选项

  • A选项“孤独会传播”直接对应文章核心结论，符合多次出现的“spread”及相关数据。
  • B选项“孤独与抑郁有关”仅是引言部分的背景信息，非文章重点。
  • C选项“孤独的人容易变胖”是文中提到的“社交传染”现象之一，但非主要讨论对象。
  • D选项“孤独的人需要更多朋友”是应对策略的侧面，但文章强调的是“修复社交网络”而非单纯增加朋友数量。

结论：A选项最能概括文章主旨。