首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
A Grassroots Remedy Most of us spend our lives seeking the natural world. To this end, we walk the dog, play golf, go fishin
A Grassroots Remedy Most of us spend our lives seeking the natural world. To this end, we walk the dog, play golf, go fishin
admin
2012-12-13
62
问题
A Grassroots Remedy
Most of us spend our lives seeking the natural world. To this end, we walk the dog, play golf, go fishing, sit in the garden, drink outside rather than inside the pub, have a picnic, live in the suburbs, go to the seaside, buy a weekend place in the country. The most popular leisure activity in Britain is going for a walk. And when joggers( 慢跑者)jog, they don’t run the streets. Every one of them instinctively heads to the park or the river. It is my profound belief that not only do we all need nature, but we all seek nature, whether we know we are doing so or not.
But despite this, our children are growing up nature-deprived (丧失). I spent my boyhood climbing trees on Streatham Common, South London. These days, children are robbed of these ancient freedoms, due to problems like crime, traffic, the loss of the open spaces and odd new perceptions about what is best for children, that is to say, things that can be bought, rather than things that can be found.
The truth is to be found elsewhere. A study in the US: families had moved to better housing and the children were assessed for ADHD—attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (多动症). Those whose accommodation had more natural views showed an improvement of 19%; those who had the same improvement in material surroundings but no nice view improved just 4%.
A study in Sweden indicated that kindergarten children who could play in a natural environment had less illness and greater physical ability than children used only to a normal playground. A US study suggested that when a school gave children access to a natural environment, academic levels were raised across the entire school.
Another study found that children play differently in a natural environment. In playgrounds, children create a hierarchy(等级) based on physical abilities, with the tough ones taking the lead. But when a grassy area was planted with bushes, the children got much more into fantasy play, and the social hierarchy was now based on imagination and creativity.
Most bullying(恃强凌弱)is found in schools where there is a tarmac(柏油碎石) playground; the least bullying is in a natural area that the children are encouraged to explore. This reminds me unpleasantly of Sunnyhill School in Streatham, with its harsh tarmac, where I used to hang about in corners fantasising about wildlife.
But children are frequently discouraged from involvement with natural spaces, for health and safety reasons, for fear that they might get dirty or that they might cause damage. So, instead, the damage is done to the children themselves: not to their bodies but to their souls.
One of the great problems of modern childhood is ADHD, now increasingly and expensively treated with drugs.
Yet one study after another indicates that contact with nature gives huge benefits to ADHD children. However, we spend money on drugs rather than on green places.
The life of old people is measurably better when they have access to nature. The increasing emphasis for the growing population of old people is in quality rather than quantity of years. And study after study finds that a garden is the single most important thing in finding that quality.
In wider and more difficult areas of life, there is evidence to indicate that natural surroundings improve all kinds of things. Even problems with crime and aggressive behaviour are reduced when there is contact with the natural world.
Dr William Bird, researcher from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, states in his study, "A natural environment can reduce violent behaviour because its restorative process helps reduce anger and impulsive behaviour. " Wild places need encouraging for this reason, no matter how small their contribution.
We tend to look on nature conservation as some kind of favour that human beings are granting to the natural world. The error here is far too deep: not only do humans need nature for themselves, but the very idea that humanity and the natural world are separable things is profoundly damaging.
Human beings are a species of mammals(哺乳动物). For seven million years they lived on the planet as part of nature. Our ancestral selves miss the natural world and long for contact with nonhuman life. Anyone who has patted a dog, stroked a cat, sat under a tree with a pint of beer, given or received a bunch of flowers or chosen to walk through the park on a nice day, understands that.
We need the wild world. It is essential to our well-being, our health, our happiness. Without the wild world we are not more but less civilised. Without other living things around us we are less than human.
Five ways to find harmony with the natural world
Walk: Break the rhythm of permanently being under a roof. Get off a stop earlier, make a circuit of the park at lunchtime, walk the child to and from school, get a dog, feel yourself moving in moving air, look, listen, absorb.
Sit: Take a moment, every now and then, to be still in an open space. In the garden, anywhere that’s not in the office, anywhere out of the house, away from the routine. Sit under a tree, look at water, feel refreshed, ever so slightly renewed.
Drink: The best way to enjoy the natural world is by yourself; the second best way is in company. Take a drink outside with a good person, a good gathering: talk with the sun and the wind with birdsong for background.
Learn: Expand your boundaries. Learn five species of bird, five butterflies, five trees, five bird songs. That way, you see and hear more: and your mind responds gratefully to the greater amount of wildness in your life.
Travel: The places you always wanted to visit: by the seaside, in the country, in the hills. Take a weekend break, a day-trip, get out there and do it: for the scenery, for the way through the woods, for the birds, for the bees. Go somewhere special and bring specialness home. It lasts forever, after all.
It is extremely harmful to think that humanity and the natural world can be______.
选项
答案
separable
解析
根据题干关键词harmful和humanity and natural world定位到第十二段第二句....but the very idea that humanity and the natural world are separable things is profoundly damaging.由该句可知,认为人与自然世界是可分离的事物的想法是非常有害的。题干中的extremely harmful是原文profoundly damaging的同义转述。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/cxw7777K
0
大学英语四级
相关试题推荐
Weoughtto______detailedinvestigationsandstudiesbeforewedrawanyconclusions.
A、Hemademoneybybuyingandsellingfarms.B、Hemadeastudyofmanyfarmsbeforebuying.C、Hehadthemoneytobuythebestf
Itistobehopedthatinhernewjobhertalentswillbebetter______thanbefore.
Asthefamilyhas______ithasalsolostsomeofitstraditionalfunctionstothepublicworld.
Soconservationistshopetheycan______thearea’soutstandingnaturalbeautyandsatisfythetourists,too.
______IlikeFrance,Idon’tthinkFrenchisthemostbeautifultongueintheworld.
A、Beforefinishingschool.B、Afterfinishinguniversity.C、Duringheruniversitycourse.D、Betweenschoolanduniversity.D选项均以时
A、They’vemetbefore.B、Hedoesnotrememberthewoman.C、Thewomanshouldagreewithhim.D、Theyhavenevermetbefore.A对话中男士提
A、Dogshaveanaturalinstincttoguidetheblind.B、Horseshaveanaturalinstincttoreturnhome.C、Guidedogssometimesmayn
随机试题
国际法制计量组织的宗旨有哪些?
“气盛则身以前皆热”是指何经
在Excel图表中,()是一个独立的数据部分,它是工作表的一个单元格中的数据。
新民主主义革命的中心内容是()
Learningaforeignlanguagerequiresaction.Herearesome【B1】______foryoutofollow.Themostimportantfactorforsuccessis
男,20岁,以转移性右下腹痛10小时之主诉入院,右下腹有固定压痛点,临床诊断为急性阑尾炎,其提示后位阑尾的特殊体征是
春天的梦黎明,窗外飘着雪花,静静地,静静地……啊,多像梦的使者。蓦地,几行诗句涌上心头:闪亮的雪花,轻柔晶莹,每一片都是一个温馨的梦。让树枝看见了新绿,让街道看见了浓阴。哦,在这落雪的早晨,我忽地闻到了丁香的芬芳,听见了蜜蜂的歌唱…
2013年上半年,建材工业完成主营业务收入28186亿元,同比增长16.7%,增速提高2.8个百分点,规模以上建材工业增加值占全国的6.61%,提高0.3个百分点。主要产品产量创历史新高,水泥10.96亿吨,同比增长9.7%,水泥熟料产量6.47亿吨,增长
[2014年第43题]若一个管理者是某领域优秀的专家学者,则他一定会管理好公司的基本事务;一位品行端正的管理者可以得到下属的尊重;但是对所有领域都一知半解的人一定不会得到下属的尊重。浩瀚公司董事会只会解除那些没有管理好公司基本事务者的职务。根据以上信息,可
设二维正态随机变量(X,Y)的概率密度为f(χ,y),已知条件概率密度fX|Y(χ|y)=和fY|X(y|χ)=B.试求:(Ⅰ)常数A和B;(Ⅱ)fX(χ)和fY(y);(Ⅲ)f(χ,y).
最新回复
(
0
)