3．There's been a frightening increase in the number of people feeling lonely，brought on or made worse by COVID-19.In fact there's been an epidemic（流行?。?loneliness.
Loneliness is awful and dangerous.For one thing it weakens self-control and that，University of Bristol
researchers have found，makes quitting smoking very difficult.Moreover，data from hundreds of thousands of people led Dr.Robyn Wootton，senior research associate at Bristol University and colleagues to conclude that loneliness appears to increase the need to smoke.
According to the Office for National Statistics，the equivalent of 7.4 million people said their wellbeing was affected through feeling lonely in the first month of lockdown.Lonely people were also more likely to be struggling to find things that would help them cope and were also less likely to feel they had support networks to fall back on.
Dr Robyn Wootton said， "We found evidence to suggest that loneliness leads to increased smoking，with people more likely to start smoking，to smoke more cigarettes and to be less likely to quit." Senior author Dr.Jorien Treur from Amsterdam UMC added， "Our finding that smoking may also lead to more loneliness is tentative（不確定的），but
it is in line with other recent studies that identified smoking as a risk factor for poor mental health.A potential explanation for this relationship is that nicotine from cigarette smoke has a great impact on neurotransmitters（神經(jīng)傳導(dǎo)物質(zhì)） such as dopamine（多巴胺） in the brain."
Dr.Wootton said with millions of people now being more socially separated，incidences of loneliness will climb. "We were really interested to find that loneliness decreases the likelihood of stopping smoking and we think this is a really important consideration for those trying to stop smoking during Covid-19，" she said.To ease your loneliness and improve your chances of succeeding in quitting.I think one of the best things you can do is to find a "buddy" who'll try to give up smoking with you.Together you can compare notes，share progress，talk through difficulties，and encourage each other to keep on going when all you want is to give in.
（1）What can we infer from Paragraph 3？
A．Lonely people tend to seek something to deal with loneliness.
B．Lockdown do more damage to physical than mental health.
C．People suffering from loneliness often turn to others for help.
D．Self-control is the most important thing to overcome loneliness.
（2）What does the underlined word "it" in Paragraph 4 refer to？
A．Evidence.
B．Smoking.
C．Loneliness.
D．Finding.
（3）What can we learn from the last paragraph？
A．Millions of people failed the attempt to stop smoking.
B．A good way to stop smoking is to get a like-minded person.
C．Smoking is not advocated officially during COVID-19.
D．Those who want to quit smoking need to find good habits.
（4）Which of the following can be a suitable title for the text？
A．Health Problems Caused by COVID-19.
B．Opinions on How to Give Up Smoking.
C．Some Ways in Which Loneliness Harm You.
D．Loneliness Makes it Hard to Quit Smoking.
