Poets die young—younger than novelists, playwrights and other writers, a U.S. researcher says. It could be because poets are tortured and【C1】______ to self-destruction, or it could be that poets become famous young, so their early deaths are【C2】______ , said James Kaufman of the Learning Research Institute at California State University. For the report,【C3】______ in the Journal of Death Studies, Kaufman studied 1987 dead writers from【C4】______ centuries from the United States, China, Turkey and Eastern Europe. He【C5】______ the writers as fiction writers, poets, playwrights, and non-fiction writers. He did not study the causes of death. "Among American, Chinese and Turkish writers, poets died【C6】______ younger than nonfiction writers," Kaufman wrote in the report. "Among the【C7】______ sample, poets die younger than both fiction writers and non-fiction writers." Because Kaufman studied some writers who lived hundreds of years ago, it is【C8】______ to compare their average age of death【C9】______ that of the general population." 【C10】______ , poets lived 62 years, playwrights 63 years, novelists 66 years and non-fiction writers lived 68 years," Kaufman said.
Kaufman has also studied poets and mental illness. "What I found was pretty【C11】______ with the actual death findings. Female poets were much more【C12】______ to suffer from mental illness (e.g.【C13】______ suicide) than any other kind of writers and other【C14】______ women," he said. "I've dubbed this the 'Sylvia Plath Effect'."
There could also be a more benign【C15】______ for poets' early death, "Poets produce twice as much of their lifetime【C16】______ in their twenties as novelists do," he said. So when a【C17】______ novelist dies young, few people may notice. "A great novelist or non-fiction writer who dies at 28 may not have yet produced her or his masterpiece." Kaufman said poets should not worry, but should perhaps 【C18】______ health. "The fact that a Sylvia Plath may die young does not【C19】______ mean an Introduction to Poetry class should carry a warning that poems may be【C20】______ to one's health," he said.
【C1】

A. likely
B. prone
C. preferable
D. favorable