Jim suffered heart problems. In conversation he expressed little joy and it seemed that his life was drawing to a close. When his heart problems led to operation, Jim went through it successfully, and a full recovery was expected. Within days, however, his heart was not beating properly. Jim was rushed back to operation, but nothing was found to explain the cause of his illness. He died on the operating table on the day before his 48th birthday. Dr. Bruce Smoller, a psychologist , had had many conversations with him, and the more he learned, the stranger he realized Jim's case was. When Jim was a child, his father, a teacher, suffered a heart attack and stayed home to recover. One morning Jim asked his father to look over his homework, promising to come home from school at noon to pick it up. His father agreed, but when Jim returned his father had died. Jim's father was 48. "I think all his life Jim believed he killed his father," Dr. Smoller says. "He felt that if he had not asked him to look at his homework, his father would have lived. Jim had been troubled by the idea. The operation was the trial he had expected for forty years. " Smoller believes that Jim willed himself not to live to the age of 48. Jim's case shows the powerful role that attitude plays in physical health, and that childhood experiences produce far-reaching effect on the health of grown-ups. Although most cases are less direct than Jim's, studies show that childhood events, besides genes, may well cause such midlife diseases as cancer, heart disease and mental illness. QUESTIONS:

Q1:
1. What are some illnesses that strike in the middle of peoples' lives?
2. What are some xamples of midlife diseases?
3. 
Q2:
1. What was Jim's age when his father died?
2. How old was Jim at the time of his dad's passing?
3. 
Q3:
1. What did Jim's father do for a living?
2. How was Jim's dad employed?
3. 
Q4:
1. What did Jim need help with?
2. What did Jim require assistance with?
3. 
Q5:
1. Did Jim think needing help killed his dad?
2. Was Jim of the belief that his needing aid killed his father?
3. 
Q6:
1. What happened when Jim was 47?
2. What took place in Jim's life at the age of 47?
3. 
Q7:
1. Was Jim expected to survive his surgery?
2. Were odds high that Jim would make it out of surgery alive?
3. 
Q8:
1. Who looked into Jim's psychological profile?
2. Who examined Jim?
3. 
Q9:
1. What does Dr. Bruce Smoller do?
2. What is Dr. Bruce Smoller's occupation?
3. 
Q10:
1. Did Jim and Dr. Smoller speak often?
2. Were there a lot of conversations between Jim and Dr. Smoller?
3. 
Q11:
1. What has an impact on adults' health?
2. What is a fundamental ingredient in the health of adults?
3. 
