親近自然是放松大腦的良藥？

天津 楊艷鑫

小溪的潺潺水聲，樹葉被風吹動的沙沙響聲，這些大自然的聲音給予我們的感官體驗完全不同于城市里人潮、車流的嘈雜聲。 親近自然能夠使大腦得到放松，改善人們的精神狀態。

題材 體裁生活 說明文 347 ★★★文章詞數 難度建議用時6分鐘

When you go to the desert with David Strayer, don't be surprised if he sticks electrodes(電極) to your head. As a cognitive psychologist at the University of Utah, Strayer studies the mind's ability to think clearly.

On the third day of a camping trip in Utah,Strayer is explaining the “three-day effect” to 22 psychology students. Our brains, he says, aren't tireless three-pound machines; they are easily exhausted by our fast-paced and increasingly digital lives. But when we slow down, stop the busywork, and seek out natural surroundings, we not only feel restored but also improve our mental performance. Strayer has proved with a group of participants, who scored 50 percent higher on creative problem-solving tasks after three days of wilderness backpacking.

Researchers from the University of Exeter Medical School analyzed data from 10,000 urban citizens and found that those living near more green space reported less mental disease.Richard Mitchell, a geographer at the University of Glasgow, found fewer deaths and less disease in people who lived near green space, even if they didn't use them. People who have window views of trees and grass have been shown to recover faster in hospitals, perform better in school, and show less violent behavior.

In some countries, nature is involved in the government's official mental health policy. At the Natural Resources Institute Finland, the nation's high rates of alcoholism and suicide led a research team to recommend that citizens spend at least five hours per month being close to nature in an effort to improve the nation's mental health. “A 40-50 minutes walk seems to be enough for physiological changes and mood changes,” says Kalevi Korpela, a professor of psychology.

Reading Check

1. What does the underlined word “they” in paragraph 2 refer to?

A. Brains.

B. Effects.

C. Students.

D. Machines.

2. Which of the following will result in improved problem-solving ability according to Strayer?

A. Keeping busy.

B. Going to a desert.

C. Eating a chicken pie.

D. Playing computer games.

3. According to the research, what does green space do to people?

A. Have a positive impact on their mental well-being.

B. Add creative problem-solving tasks.

C. Slow down the pace of their work.

D. Lessen their concerns about violent behavior.

4. What does Strayer mean in the last paragraph?

A. He will go on making further research.

B. We should do things according to our

So far, no study can offer a full explanation of the brain-on-nature experience; something mysterious will always remain, Strayer says, and perhaps that's as it should be. “At the end of the day,” he says, “we come out in nature not because science says it does something to us but because of how it makes us feel.”feelings.

C. The brain-on-nature experience is not scientific.

D. Brains can rest and recover after a trip in nature.

Language Study

Ⅰ. Difficult sentence

At the Natural Resources Institute Finland,the nation's high rates of alcoholism and suicide led a research team to recommend that citizens spend at least five hours per month being close to nature in an effort to improve the nation's mental health. 在芬蘭自然資源研究所，國家的高酗酒率和自殺率導致一個研究小組建議國民每月應至少花5個小時親近自然，以改善國民的心理健康。

【點石成金】本句是一個主從復合句，that引導賓語從句，作recommend的賓語。 因recommend表建議，所以從句要使用“（should） do”形式的虛擬語氣； in an effort to表目的。

Ⅱ. Text-centered chunks

slow down 減速；慢下來

lead to 導致

offer a full explanation of 提供對……的充分解釋

even if 即使