Directions: Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on the ANSWER SHEET. (10 points)
Though not biologically related, friends are as "related" as fourth cousins, sharing about 1% of genes. That is(1)_____a study published from the University of California and Yale University in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, has(2)_____.
The study is a genome-wide analysis conducted(3)_____1932 unique subjects which(4)_____pairs of unrelated friends and unrelated strangers. The same people were used in both(5)_____.
While 1% may seem(6)_____,it is not so to a geneticist. As co-author of the study James Fowler, professor of medical genetics at UC San Diego says, "Most people do not even(7)_____their fourth cousins but somehow manage to select as friends the people who(8)_____our kin."
The team also developed a "friendship score" which can predict who will be your friend based on their genes.
The study(9)_____found that the genes for smell were something shared in friends but not genes for immunity. Why this similarity in olfactory genes is difficult to explain, for now. (10)_____, as the team suggests, it draws us to similar environments but there is more(11)_____it. There could be many mechanisms working in tandem that(12)_____ us in choosing genetically similar friends (13)_____than "functional kinship" of being friends with(14)_____!
One of the remarkable findings of the study was that the similar genes seem to be evolving(15)_____than other genes. Studying this could help(16)_____why human evolution picked pace in the last 30,000 years, with social environment being a major(17)_____factor.
The findings do not simply corroborate people's(18)_____to befriend those of similar(19)_____backgrounds, say the researchers. Though all the subjects were drawn from a population of European extraction, care was taken to(20)_____that all subjects, friends and strangers were taken from the same population. The team also controlled the data to check ancestry of subjects.