《英语流行话题阅读:语境识词4500》26 Friends Bring Happiness

　　Unit 26
Friends Bring Happiness
We sit around the rough wooden table in the summer cabin for a class reunion. About 15 men and women who have one thing in common: we all went to elementary school together. A classmate sums it up. "What's most important in life is friendship. I don't know what I'd do without my friends." The room full of gray hair applauds in agreement.
Decades of research have documented that friendship is good for your health. People with friends have lower death rates. They recover faster from illness. Just why friendship is a healing force is the focus of much research. As scientists try to unravel¹ the DNA² code book of life, I look around the table at my classmates.
There are old memories of the gray-haired music teacher. There are turning points of weddings, births, funerals. Laughter and gossip. Crises of illness, despair, and loss. At its most basic level, friendship is a human connection that involve affection and intimacy³. In the inner circle, there is a continual sharing of the most important details of your life. Whom do you confide⁴ in on a regular basis? Whom can you call upon if you need help? Whom do you call if you want celebrate? The inner circle today may include spouses⁵, lovers, college roommates and cousins, children and grandchildren, colleagues, and children of friends.
There are lots of ways to get love and intimacy. You don't have to be married. It doesn't matter whether it's friends or relatives. You have to rely on somebody for emotional support.
Some of us are Marco Polo types who left the area long ago. A large percentage stayed, raising their children as we were raised along well-worn paths. Yet the themes of being tested and finding a haven⁶ of loving friendship are the same. Since nursery school, each of us has spread out and created new networks. It's as though we were born into a certain biological family and have ended up with a diverse web of kinship.
Doctors warn us a lack of friends can be hazardous⁷ to health. Isolation⁸ and alienation⁹ are risk factors for diseases. Research with monkeys shows that adult females housed alone are twice as likely to develop diseases of arteries¹⁰ as animals that live in small groups. In a study of patients hospitalized for heart attacks, 38 percent of those without social support network died in the hospital, compared with 11 percent of those who had support.
The experience of being loved, cherished, esteemed¹¹ and cared for protects people from disease. It also makes life worthwhile.
Yet building an inner circle of intimates takes work, especially as people age and lose old friends. If only drug companies could bottle friendship, and doctors prescribe it.
Making -- and keeping -- friends is the ultimate task in self-care. It's up to us to maintain connections -- to make the phone call, send the mail, exchange the photos. That's why we started to plan for next year's reunion.

1 unravel   

v.弄清楚（秘密）；拆开，解开，松开

参考例句：

• He was good with his hands and could unravel a knot or untangle yarn that others wouldn't even attempt.他的手很灵巧，其他人甚至都不敢尝试的一些难解的绳结或缠在一起的纱线，他都能解开。
• This is the attitude that led him to unravel a mystery that long puzzled Chinese historians.正是这种态度使他解决了长期以来使中国历史学家们大惑不解的谜。

2 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

3 intimacy   

n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行

参考例句：

• His claims to an intimacy with the President are somewhat exaggerated.他声称自己与总统关系密切，这有点言过其实。
• I wish there were a rule book for intimacy.我希望能有个关于亲密的规则。

4 confide   

v.向某人吐露秘密

参考例句：

• I would never readily confide in anybody.我从不轻易向人吐露秘密。
• He is going to confide the secrets of his heart to us.他将向我们吐露他心里的秘密。

5 spouses   

n.配偶，夫或妻( spouse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Jobs are available for spouses on campus and in the community. 校园里和社区里有配偶可做的工作。 来自辞典例句
• An astonishing number of spouses-most particularly in the upper-income brackets-have no close notion of their husbands'paychecks. 相当大一部分妇女——特别在高收入阶层——并不很了解他们丈夫的薪金。 来自辞典例句

6 haven   

n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所

参考例句：

• It's a real haven at the end of a busy working day.忙碌了一整天后，这真是一个安乐窝。
• The school library is a little haven of peace and quiet.学校的图书馆是一个和平且安静的小避风港。

7 hazardous   

adj.(有)危险的，冒险的；碰运气的

参考例句：

• These conditions are very hazardous for shipping.这些情况对航海非常不利。
• Everybody said that it was a hazardous investment.大家都说那是一次危险的投资。

8 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。

9 alienation   

n.疏远；离间；异化

参考例句：

• The new policy resulted in the alienation of many voters.新政策导致许多选民疏远了。
• As almost every conceivable contact between human beings gets automated,the alienation index goes up.随着人与人之间几乎一切能想到的接触方式的自动化，感情疏远指数在不断上升。

10 arteries   

n.动脉( artery的名词复数 )；干线，要道

参考例句：

• Even grafting new blood vessels in place of the diseased coronary arteries has been tried. 甚至移植新血管代替不健康的冠状动脉的方法都已经试过。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This is the place where the three main arteries of West London traffic met. 这就是伦敦西部三条主要交通干线的交汇处。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 esteemed   

adj.受人尊敬的v.尊敬( esteem的过去式和过去分词 )；敬重；认为；以为

参考例句：

• The art of conversation is highly esteemed in France. 在法国十分尊重谈话技巧。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He esteemed that he understood what I had said. 他认为已经听懂我说的意思了。 来自《简明英汉词典》