FaceApp has taken the world by storm, giving users the chance to see themselves age through its algorithm(算法). 12.7 million people—some three million more than the population of New York City—reportedly downloaded it in a week last month.

Although the Russian app has become known for its privacy issues, the more interesting lesson of our FaceApp fling(尽情玩乐)is what it tells us about our society—and our future lives. It turns out we are more interested in aging than we realized. Most younger people are denying old age, doing almost nothing to prepare for it. We rarely have a chance to plan for the future, with increasing time and financial pressures. Those pressures bring sacrifices we may not always want to make: we can no longer afford to spend the time or the money needed to look after our elderly parents.

As a family doctor, I can see the loneliness epidemic(流行病) developing. Elderly patients come to see me with no particular illness, no clear medical issue. After a few minutes of the consultation, I understand why: they are not sick, and often they don’t feel sick. They just need someone—anyone—to talk to.

Although loneliness has no medical classification, the health effects are real: loneliness and isolation can be as harmful as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, and is more damaging than obesity. But loneliness does not come with nearly enough health warnings.

So what next? Since 1980, we are living on average 10 years longer. Meanwhile, people are having fewer children, and they are having them much later in life. The snake of a world class health service is eating its own tail; its care is prolonging people's lives, but as the rate of pensioners(退休人员)to working-age people increases, there are fewer taxpayers to fund that very health service.

Into this emptiness have stepped NGOs, charities and volunteers. But in the long term, the only way to truly help the oldest members of our society is to go back to the traditional values of inter-generational cooperation—often under the same roof. Ultimately, we will need to evolve towards a culture where elderly care is treated the same as childcare, where employers recognize the duty of someone with an elderly parent the same way they recognize those of someone with a newborn child.

【小题1】What’s the writer’s intention of mentioning FaceApp in the first two paragraphs?

A．To prove its popularity.

B．To explain its function.

C．To show the progress of technology.

D．To introduce the topic of aging and loneliness.

【小题2】What makes elderly people without illness go to see their family doctors?

A．Desire to have the consultation.	B．Strong feeling of loneliness.
C．Unclear medical issues.	D．Questions to ask doctors.

【小题3】How can the oldest members be truly helped?

A．By being treated as children.

B．By going back to the traditional society.

C．By providing family care.

D．By living with other elderly people under the same roof.

【小题4】What can we learn from the passage?

A．The loneliness of elderly people needs more attention.

B．FaceApp’s popularity proves it has no security problems.

C．Health service lacks fund because of prolonged people’s lives.

D．FaceApp is helpful in dealing with elderly people’s loneliness.