students did worse than the non­lonely students on the emotion­reading task - but only when they were told they were being tested on their social skills. When the lonely were told they were just taking a general knowledge test, they performed better than the non­lonely.

　　So the lonelier people are, the better they are at accurately reading facial expressions and decoding tone of voice. Lonely people may be paying closer attention to emotional cues (暗示) precisely because of their willingness to belong somewhere and form interpersonal connections, which results in technically superior social skills.

　　This presents a fairly new way to think about lonely people. It's not that they need to improve the basics of social skills, which they've likely already shared. Instead, lonely people may need to focus more on getting out of their own heads, so they can actually use the skills they've got to form friendships and begin to find a way out of their isolation.

　　语篇解读：本文是说明文。一项研究表明孤独的人更擅长解读人的情感。

　　 24.According to the traditional point of view, why do lonely people stay lonely?

　　A．They are happy to stay alone.

　　B．They are difficult to get along with.

　　C．They have few chances to practice social skills.

　　D．They are likely to misunderstand others' opinion.

　　解析：选C　细节理解题。由第二段中的"One long­held theory ...the few skills they do have start to fail from lack of use"可知，传统观点认为，孤独的人之所以孤独是因为他们缺少与人交往的机会，导致社会技能退化。

　　25．In the test mentioned in Paragraph 3, the lonely performed better when they________.

　　A．felt not very lonely

　　B．were under great pressure

　　C．were told it was a test on social skills

　　D．did not know the real purpose of the test

　　解析：选D　细节理解题。由第三段末句"When the lonely were told they were just taking a general knowledge test，they performed better than the non­lonely"可知，当孤独的人不知道测试的真实意图时，他们在测试中的表现更好。

　　26．Compared to non­lonely people, lonely people________.

　　A．can better control their emotions

　　B．can better express their emotions

　　C．can better read people's emotions

　　D．can better handle people's emotions

解析：选C　推理判断题。由第三段中的实验结果及第四段首句"So the lonelier people