How do you relax after a stressful day in the office? There are many ways to help you relax. 1. It takes a little effort to get there but the benefits are great for our stressed-out lives. I am talking about the activity of forest bathing.
2. It was introduced as a national health programme by the country's government. Stressed Japanese workers are today still relaxing and reconnecting with nature.The Forest Therapy Society has certified 62 forest therapy sites in the country and the forest bathing movement is also booming in other parts of the world. It says,“Just as bathing in a hot spring helps to soak your cares away,going for a walk in the woods is said to have a comforting effect.”
Forest bathing is about taking time to wander through woodland with no fixed plan or route and just expose yourself to the forest atmosphere.3.That's particularly good for people with mental health issues. A study conducted in 24 forests across Japan found that walking among trees lowered blood pressure, the pulse rate, thus improving our immune systems.4.
Another study carried out a few years ago by Stanford University in the US,found similar benefits.Brain scans showed reduced activity in an area of the brain linked to the risk of mental illness in participants who took a 90-minute walk among oaks, birds and squirrels. One of the researchers,Gregory Bratman, said,“There's an increasing body of evidence showing that natural areas benefit us at least emotionally with our mood and our physical development too.”The evidence seems clear that forest bathing is a shot in the arm for stressed-out workers. So now is the time to get out and lose yourself in the natural environment, 5.
A. But the best way lies in the great outdoors.
B. Connecting with nature has never been more urgent.
C. Forest bathing is rising in popularity around the world.
D. Having this exposure to nature seems to promote well-being.
E. You could even hug a tree as it could be your new best friend!
F. The Japanese concept of forest bathing dates back to the 1980s.
G. It also found forest bathing can decrease stress. anxiety, and depression.
A great number of species make their home in the vast waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Although the entire ocean makes up an ecosystem, many smaller habitats are found within, including an open-water habitat off the coast of the Northern Atlantic Ocean known as the Sargasso Sea. Sargassum is an alga(海藻) that floats in masses that can continue for miles. The waters of the Gulf Stream push the water in a northward move into this area. This constant move and varying temperature support the accumulation of the brown-colored seaweed.
The Sargasso Sea is so enormous that one method of information collection has not been enough for scientists to obtain an accurate picture of what takes place within this ecosystem. Researchers have needed to employ several methods of sampling. Methods such as dragging nets over the surface of the water and videotaping beneath areas of sargassum have served scientists well.Information collected has shown that the Gulf Stream pushes brown algae from open water into the Sargasso Sea area, creating a diverse floating habitat in an area that would otherwise not support that wildlife.
In the most recent study of the sargassum community off the shores of North Carolina, eighty-one fish species were documented as using the area as a microhabitat.This is an increase from previous studies. The types of fish found here are both commercially and environmentally important.The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council is working to regulate the harvesting of sargassum. The Council hopes to have the area classified as an Essential Fish Habitat. Which would afford it certain protections.
Further research needs to be done before scientists understand how to best protect the Sargasso Sea as well as understand how it goes about supporting so many important types of wildlife.
1.The author uses “enormous” in paragraph 2 to stress that .
A.the Atlantic Ocean is really amazing in terms of its size and area
B.what the researchers do is highly respected by scientific community
C.the research work is complex because a large area must be covered
D.a large amount of money for the Sargasso Sea research is needed
2.It can be inferred from the phrase“needed to be done”in paragraph 4 that the author thinks .
A.the Sargasso ecosystem is worth our attention and needs more study
B.the scientific community has ignored this complex ecosystem
C.the Sargasso Sea is becoming a problem and needs removing
D.new methods for researching the ecosystem must be found instantly
3.The text is mainly about .
A.diversity of wildlife in the Atlantic Ocean
B.different habitats of sea animals
C.methods of information collection
D.the Sargasso Sea as an entire ecosystem
We spend a great amount of time listening to music. Most college students listen to music at least three or four times a week, and more than 50 percent of them go to at least one concert per year.
According to new research, we may be born liking music, because human beings are born to find certain combinations of sounds attractive. For example, young children can recognize a familiar Song even when its key is changed. Similarly, they respond with more emotions to their mothers' singing than to their mothers' speech. Careful analysis of mothers’ child-directed songs indicates that each mother's songs remain stable from one “performance” to the next, and this may encourage children’s engagement with the songs.
Research with adults suggests that music catches our attention by activating(激活) brain pathways that are most suited to processing music than to processing other kinds of sound. Specifically, music appreciation relies on the auditory cortex(听觉皮层) on the right side of the brain, which is specialized to process sound that characterizes music-in contrast to the left auditory cortex, which processes the stop-and-start bursts of sound that characterize speech.
Although some Psychologists remain skeptical about whether music may have powerful effects on our thinking, a number of studies have shown that listening to music can increase people’s spatial reasoning abilities Furthermore, It is clear that music can greatly influence our emotions. Personally significant music activates areas of the brain associated with pleasure and reward, the same areas that are activated by sex and good food.
Researchers do not agree about how humans' abilities to process and enjoy music have come into being. Anyway, the next time you enjoy listening to a piece of music, remember that the most complex pieces of audio equipment are the ones between your headphones.
1.Which of the following might belong to the “certain combinations of sounds “in paragraph2?
A.A song. B.A debate C.A quarrel. D.A dialogue.
2.It can be learned from paragraph 4 that .
A.no doubt music can increase people’s thinking ability
B.music simply gives people positive emotions
C.only music can give people pure pleasure and reward
D.music has a great influence on human beings
3.According to the passage, the most complex pieces of audio equipment lie .
A.at a college B.in a concert
C.in the brain D.in the headphone
A famous Anglican Church stands in a quiet corner of Dunedin in New Zealand's South Island. Built in 1865,it is the city's oldest church still in use.Countless couples have gathered here to marry.It's where morning tears are shared,friendships formed and comfort given during times of loss.
As with many churches,its walls are graced with a collection of beautiful stained-glass windows. Known as the“John Allen window”, one window portrays the short life of a local man,John Allen,who died in 1915 in the Gallipoli campaign in Turkey.
John was the son of Sir James Allen,who as Minister of Defense,helped plan and administer New Zealand's World War I strategy,which saw 100,000 troops sent to fight. With the war over and his son dead, Sir James chose to install a window in the church, with which the Allen family had strong ties.
Divided into two parts，one depicts (描绘) St.George，the patron saint (守护神) of soldiers，while the other has an angel of peace, along with the words at the bottom,“John Hugh All Gallipoli,6th June,1915”. Two trees with local birds on the branches can be seen and a kiwi walks at the bottom- reminders that John was a lover of birds.
“There are many war memorials in the church," says the church. “However the ‘John Allen window' stands out; it touches people because of the beautiful design, the New Zealand birds and because John's story, of a life so full of promise ending tragically in the war,reflects the lives and stories of so many others involved in World War I.”
1.What does the word“portrays”in paragraph 2 most probably mean?
A.Starts. B.Changes.
C.Treasures. D.Represents.
2.Sir James Allen built the“John Allen window”to .
A.celebrate the end of World War I
B.honor the troops in the Gallipoli campaign
C.remember his son's sacrifice to the country
D.show the family's close ties with the church
3.What might be the main theme of the pictures on the window?
A.Freedom and equality.
B.Peace and war.
C.Human and nature.
D.Marriage and family.
4.What might be the best title for the text?
A.A Brave Soldier
B.Window on a Life
C.Cruelty of the War
D.A Grand Church
Directions: Write an English composition in 120 -150 words according to the instructions given below in Chinese.
请简要描述图片，并结合生活实际（自身或他人的例子），谈谈你对于“舒适圈”的看法。
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Directions: Translate the following sentences into English, using the words given in the brackets.
1.你估计这位著名艺术家的原版画作要多少钱？（estimate)
2.本想让自己放松一下的假期结果却成了一场灾难。（intend)
3.这个手无寸铁的年轻人冒着生命危险阻止了歹徒逃离现场，他足多么勇敢啊! (risk n.)
4.在当今社会，诱惑和干扰无处不在，自律即使不是最重要的，也是重要的品 质之一，因为它有效地促进了一个人的进步和发展。（where)
