江苏专用2020高考英语二轮复习专题限时检测二十九任务型阅读四

专题限时检测(二十九)　任务型阅读(四)(限时24分钟)A(2019·南京、盐城二模)Anyone who's ever made room for a big milestone of adult

专题限时检测(二十九) 任务型阅读(四) (限时24分钟) A (2019·南京、盐城二模)Anyone who's ever made room for abig milestone of adult life —a job, amarriage, amove —has likely shoved afriendship to the side.After all, there is no contract locking us to the other person, as in marriage, and there are no blood bonds, as in family.We choose our friends, and our friends choose us.That's areally distinctive attribute of friendships. But modern life can become so busy that people forget to keep choosing each other.That's when friendships fade, and there's reason to believe it's happening more than ever.Loneliness is on the rise, and feeling lonely has been found to increase aperson's risk of dying early by 26% —and to be even worse for the body than obesity and air pollution.Loneliness damages health in many ways, particularly because it removes the safety net of social support.“When we perceive our world as threatening, that can be associated with an increase in heart rate and blood pressure.” The solution is simple: friendship.It helps protect the brain and body from stress, anxiety and depression.“Being around trusted others, in essence, signals safety and security，” says Holt­Lunstad.A study last year found that friendships are especially beneficial later in life.Having supportive friends in old age is astronger predictor of well­being than family ties — suggesting that the friends you pick may be at least as important as the family you're born into. Easy as the fix may sound, it can be difficult to keep and make friends as an adult.But research suggests that you only need between four and five close pals.If you've ever had agood one, you know what you're looking for.“The expectations of friends, once you have amature understanding of friendship, don't really change across the life course，” Rawlins says.“People want their close friends to be someone they can talk to and someone they can depend upon.”