This is my son Matthew's last night at home before college. I know that this is good news. I feel proud that Matthew will go to a great school. I know that this is his finest hour. But looking at the suitcases on his bed sends me out of the room to a hidden corner where I can't stop crying.

Through the sorrow，I feel rising embarrassment. "Pull yourself together！"I tell myself. There are parents sending their kids off to battle zones. How dare I feel so shattered（感到震惊难过的）？

One of the great gifts of my life has been having my boys，Matthew and Johnowen. Through them，I have explored the mysterious and complicated（复杂的）bond between fathers and sons. As my wife and I raised them，I have discovered the love and loss between my father and me. After my parents' divorce，I spent weekends with my dad in Ohio. By the time Sunday rolled around，I was unable to enjoy the day's activities because I was already afraid of the goodbye of the evening.

Now，standing among Matthew's belongings，I realize it's me who has become a boy again. All my sadness and longing to hold on to things are back，sweeping over me as they did when I was a child.

His bed is tidy. It already has the feel of a guest bed. In my mind I replay the scene that I wrapped him in his favorite blanket. That was our nightly routine until one evening he said，"Daddy，I don't think I need a blanket tonight." I think of all the times when we lay among the covers reading. I look at the bed and think of all the recent times when I was annoyed at how late he was sleeping. I realize I'll never have to worry about that again.

For his part, Matthew has been a rock. He is treating his leaving as just another day at the office. And I'm glad. After all, someone's got to be strong. I'm proud that he is charging into the first chapter of his adult life with such confidence.

   I've spent most of my career as a traveling salesman. There's nothing _______ than eating meals in a coffee shop. One year，my five-year-old daughter Jeanine gave me a（n）________.It was a soft toy penguin with a hand-painted card ___________ "I Love My Dad！"Tears came to my eyes ________ and，I gave it a special place on my desk.

Soon I had to leave on _________ business trip. This time when I was _________，I put the penguin in my suitcase. After that day，Jeanine __________ helped me with the penguin. Many years have _________ since then. And that little penguin has kept me ________ for hundreds of thousands of miles all across America and over to Europe. We have also made many friends along the way.

Late one night，after leaving my hotel，I _________ that the penguin was missing. Frantically（紧张慌乱地），I __________ the hotel. The clerk laughed，saying it hadn't been __________.But half an hour later，he called back to say that my penguin had been ___________.It was already ___________，but I still drove several hours to get my little friend，arriving near midnight.

It was waiting at the front desk. In the lobby，___________ business travelers looked at us-I thought with some ___________ that I had such a lovely friend. Someone came out to shake my hand. Another man told me that he had even ___________ to deliver it to me the very next day，which would have saved me the trip.

Jeanine is in college now and I don't travel as much anymore. The penguin spends most of its time sitting on my __________ — a reminder（提醒人的事物）that _________ is the best traveling companion. All those years on the road，it was the one thing I never left home __________.

   A newly-published study has shown that loneliness can spread from one person to another，like a disease. Researchers used information from the Framingham Heart Study，which began in 1948. The Framingham Heart Study gathers information about physical and mental health，personal behavior and diet. At first，the study involved（使参加）about 5,000 people in the American state of Massachusetts. Now more than 12,000 individuals（个人）are taking part.

Information from the Framingham Heart Study showed earlier that happiness can spread from person to person. So can behavior like littering and the ability to stop smoking.

Psychologist John Cacioppo，at the University of Chicago，led the recent study. He and other researchers tried to show how often people felt lonely. They found that the feeling of loneliness spread through social groups.

Having a social connection with a lonely person increased the chances that another individual would feel lonely. In fact，a friend of a lonely person was 52% more likely to develop feelings of loneliness. A friend of that person was 25%more likely. The researchers said this shows that a person could indirectly be affected by someone’s loneliness.

The effect was the strongest among friends. Neighbors were the second most affected group. The effect was weaker on husbands and wives，and brothers and sisters. The researchers also found that loneliness spread more easily among women than men.

The New York Times newspaper reported that，on average，people experience feelings of loneliness about 48 days a year. It also found that every additional（额外的）friend can decrease loneliness by about five percent，or two and a half fewer lonely days.

Loneliness has been linked to health problems like depression（抑郁症）and sleeping difficulties. The researchers believe that knowing the causes of loneliness could help reduce it.

The study suggested that people can take steps to stop the spread of loneliness. They can do this by helping individuals they know who may be experiencing loneliness. The result can be helpful to the whole social group.

   I was born in New York City. My first seven years were spent in Manhattan, and then we moved to the Bronx. As a child with a strong ___for knowledge, I went to a public school and received a good ___education there.

At the end of my high school I decided to major in science and, in particular, ___. One of the ___factors may have been that my grandfather, whom I loved dearly, died of cancer when I was 15. I was ___motivated to do something that might eventually ___a cure for this terrible disease.

With great efforts and help from my parents, I ___graduate school at New York University in 1939. I was the only female in my graduate chemistry class, and ___my Master of Science degree in chemistry in 1941.

I was doing my research into ___with other scientists. When we began to see the results of our ____in the form of new drugs which filled real ____needs and benefited patients in very ____ways, our feeling of ____was immeasurable.

Over the ____, my work became both my vocation and avocation(业余爱好). ____, I became an enthusiastic photographer and ____. I have traveled fairly widely over the world, but there still remain many places for me to explore. ____major interest is music and I am an opera lover. I also ____concerts, ballet and theater.

In my ____career I was promoted frequently, and in 1967 I was appointed Head of the Department of Experimental Therapy, a position which I ____until I retired in 1983.