24 題至第 27 題: Loneliness is not the same as being alone. A person can be just as lonely in a group of people as when home alone.
Loneliness is a feeling of being unconnected with other people, or wanting to be with someone who isn’t there, or having
no one to turn to who can affirm one’s essential human qualities.
From time to time, loneliness afflicts nearly everyone. It is usually provoked by a lost connection with significant
people in one’s life. This loneliness is usually temporary and eases off with time as one discovers that one can still enjoy
life despite the loss. But chronic loneliness comes more from within individuals than it does from circumstances imposed
from outside. This kind of lonely people tend to blame their loneliness on themselves, on their personality and appearance.
Besides, lonely people tend not to like the people they meet and assume those people don’t like them. They also lack the
skills needed to establish meaningful, caring contact with others.
Other surveys showed that lonely people know and interact with other people as the non-lonely do, but the lonely
tend to have unrealistic standards or expectations about the relationships that get in the way of forming close friendship.
Surveys have shown the loneliest people tend to be adolescents and young adults. Contrary to popular belief, the elderly
are less lonely than people in other age groups, perhaps because the elderly have more realistic expectations. 【題組】
24 Which of the following is NOT mentioned as the characteristic of lonely people?
(A)They think they are not popular. (B)They have unrealistic expectations.
(C)They tend to be young. (D)They are skillful at making friends.