雅思写作素材：绿色好心情

　　A growing body of research shows that people who spend time outside in sunny, green and natural spaces tend to be happier and healthier than those who don't. A study from Stanford last year, for example, found that young adults who walked for an hour through campus parkland were less anxious afterward and performed better on a test of working memory than if they had strolled along a busy street.

　　越来越多的研究表明，在阳光灿烂、绿意盎然的自然环境中度过更多时光的人比其他人更快乐、更健康。例如，斯坦福大学（Stanford）去年的一项研究发现，与在繁忙的街道散步相比，年轻人在校园草地散步一小时后，焦虑水平更低，在工作记忆测试中的表现也更好。

　　【大作文万用句式】

　　A growing body of research shows that …越来越多的研究表明，……

　　【经典句式】

　　young adult 年轻人

　　campus校园

　　parkland开阔绿地

　　anxious焦虑的

　　perform表现

　　stroll散步

　　【犀利观点】放松&心理健康：

　　A growing body of research shows that people who spend time outside in sunny, green and natural spaces tend to be happier and healthier than those who don't.

　　Precisely what is going on inside our bodies as we move through the greenery is largely unknown, however. It hasn't even been made clear that nature itself is responsible for the greatest health benefits — they may come instead from physical activity, sunlight or, if you stroll with others, camaraderie. Now a new study published in The International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health takes a step toward sorting these interactions out by focusing on pictures of the outdoors rather than on the real thing.

　　不过，我们对人在绿色环境中活动时身体里的确切情况基本不了解。我们甚至不清楚，对健康最有益的到底是大自然本身，还是身体活动、阳光或同伴情谊(如果是你和别人一起散步的话)。《国际环境研究和公共健康杂志》(The International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health)目前发表的一项新研究试图弄清这些互相关系。它把焦点放在户外照片上，而非真实的户外环境上。

　　【经典句式】

　　greenery绿色环境

　　health benefit 健康益处

　　physical activity 身体活动

　　stroll散步

　　camaraderie同伴情谊

　　take a step toward向着……迈出一步

　　sort… out 搞清楚

　　The researchers, most of them affiliated with VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, focused on the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. The first responds to stress by triggering a fight-or-flight reaction, raising heart rates and putting us generally on edge;the second counters those responses,bringing physiological calm. For this study, nearly four dozen university students were outfitted with sensors to monitor electrical activity in the heart and then shown photos on a computer screen. Half the pictures displayed urban spaces full of buildings and parked cars; the rest were green places— but homely ones,like empty pathways flanked by trees, not majestic wilderness.

　　该研究的研究人员大多来自阿姆斯特丹自由大学医学中心(VU University Medical Center)，他们关注的重点是交感和副交感神经系统。交感神经系统通过激发战斗或逃跑反应、加速心跳和保持身体紧张来应对压力;而副交感神经系统压制这些反应，保持生理上的平静。为了这个研究，他们找到近50名大学生，给他们装上感应器，以监测心电活动，然后让他们观看电脑屏幕上的照片。其中一半的照片展示了全是建筑物和静止汽车的城市空间，另一半是绿色空间，不过大多是常见的场景，比如两侧是绿树的无人小径，而不是壮观的野外景色。

　　【经典句式】

　　affiliated with 附属于

　　nervous system 神经系统

　　respond to应对

　　stress压力

　　trigger激发

　　fight-or-flight reaction战斗或逃跑反应

　　heart rate心率

　　put… on edge让……紧张

　　counter对抗

　　response反应

　　physiological生理的

　　sensor感应器

　　monitor监测

　　electrical activity in the heart心电活动

　　computer screen电脑屏幕

　　display显示

　　urban space城市空间

　　the rest剩下的

　　homely平凡的

　　pathway路

　　majestic壮观的

　　wilderness荒野

　　Having viewed the photos, the students tackled a series of increasingly difficult computerized math problems while an on-screen assessment compared their results with the average performance and, whether accurately or not, showed them to be subpar. This test has proved to be a robust means of raising stress levels. Afterward,the subjects reviewed the pictures, retook the math test, then looked at more photos.

　　看完照片后，这些学生要在电脑上解答一系列难度逐步加大的数学题，而屏幕上的评估器把他们的答案与平均成绩相比较。结果显示，他们成绩低于平均水平，虽然不确定准确与否。这证明了这项测试能迅速提高压力水平。之后，研究对象们再看照片，再做数学题，然后再看更多照片。

　　【经典句式】

　　tackle解决

　　a series of 一系列的

　　computerize用计算机处理

　　math problem数学题

　　assessment评估

　　average平均的

　　performance表现

　　accurately准确地

　　robust强健的

　　means途径

　　stress level压力水平

　　subject实验对象

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