题目内容：

    Once a month, I volunteer at a meal center to help serve food to people who are in need. Despite the many other things that I need to do, I really look forward to meeting and serving these people, even if only briefly. Although my motivation begins with wanting to help others and be grateful for what I have been given, it is joy that helps bring me back when I am very busy. I first noticed this some time ago: at the end of our shift, after the kitchen and dining room have been cleaned up, I would experience a lightness of being.

A few years ago, as I was researching how kindness affected health, I came to learn that volunteerism was associated with a markedly lower risk of dying. One recent and large European study found that self-reported health scores were apparently better in volunteers than non-volunteers. Depending on the study, the decrease in death rates ranged between 20 to 60 percent or so.

How could volunteering decrease the risk of death? There are several factors at play. The first, and most primary, is decreased symptoms of stress and uplifted mood. Many studies have provided evidence that volunteering is good for depression, well-being, and social networking, among other effects. Secondly, people who volunteer regularly also make more effort to take care of themselves. They manage to pay visits to their doctor for preventive health care. Finally, people who volunteer may be more physically active. Volunteers have an obvious increase in walking each day compared to those who did not volunteer.

To try to tie this together, volunteering likely exerts its positive health effects by connecting people to others and to an activity that they find meaningful. Achieving connection, purpose, and meaning is critical to reducing stresses of life — particularly loneliness. Since stress is a major cause of disease, especially heart disease, the ability to satisfy the need for connection, purpose, and meaning can bring about beneficial changes for people. And when there is purpose and we are connected to others, we take care of ourselves.

1.How does the author feel about doing a volunteer job?

A.Pleased. B.Tired.

C.Surprised. D.Annoyed.

2.What is the second paragraph mainly about?

A.A study on volunteerism.

B.The health scores of volunteers.

C.The relationship between kindness and health.

D.Volunteerism’s positive effect on volunteers’ health.

3.Volunteering decreases the risk of volunteers’ death mainly by ___________.

A.making them more physically active

B.making them visit doctors frequently

C.pushing them to take care of themselves

D.reducing their stress and uplifting their mood

4.What does the underlined word “critical” in the last paragraph mean?

A.Different. B.Equal.

C.Important. D.Contrary.