Do your spirits soar (猛增) on a sunny day? Do you relax at the sound of flowing water?
Some scientists suggest that these contacts with nature are good for your health. In one study, hospital patients with a view of trees had shorter hospital stays and less need for pain medications. Another study indicated that prisoners with a view of the outdoors had fewer doctor visits.
“Why do we desire nature? Maybe we’re programmed to need it, since our ancestors’ survival was so dependent on their connection with nature,” suggests biologist E.O. Wilson.
Want to find out if contact with nature improves your outlook on life? Try a few of these ideas.
Hang out a bird feeder and watch the birds that visit it.
Sit down in the backyard or a nearby park. Close your eyes. What do you hear? Birds singing? The wind in the trees? Crickets (蟋蟀) chirping?
Find an anthill. Sit down and watch the ants work.
Take a walk right after a rainstorm. What looks different? Smells different?
Go barefoot on a sandy beach.
Open the curtains and the window, if the weather allows it.
On a windy day, watch the trees.
Go to a creek, river or park fountain. Listen to the sound of water in motion.
Camp out in the backyard or at a nearby state park. Use a tent or sleep on the ground.
Find a wide-open space to study the stars. Learn about the different constellations (星座).
Raise a garden. Or plant some seeds in a flowerpot.
Go hiking with your family. Talk about all of the colors you see in nature.
Take a camera and capture your nature experience.
1.From Paragraph 2 we can learn that ______.
|
A．prisoners don’t like to go to the doctor when ill |
B．trees can be used as pain medications |
|
C．prisoners should often get out of prison to come into contact with nature |
|
|
D．contacts with nature are very helpful for hospital patients |
2.According to E.O. Wilson, we desire nature probably because ______.
|
A．it can help us feel relaxed |
|
B．we have inherited (继承) from our ancestors who were dependent on nature |
|
C．people have lived with nature for thousands of years |
|
D．contacts with nature can improve a person’s outlook on life |
3.The author gives us many ideas in order to let us ______.
|
A．find out if contacts with nature improve our outlook on life |
|
|
B．hear birds sing and watch ants work |
|
|
C．talk about the colors we see in nature |
D．capture our experience in nature |
4.From the passage, we can learn that ______.
|
A．studying the constellations is important to everyone |
|
|
B．you can know all the colors only by going hiking |
|
|
C．nature is quite important to us |
D．walking in a rainstorm can be very helpful |
5.What is the best title of the passage?
|
A．Go hiking with your family. |
B．Let nature nurture you. |
|
C．Visit your doctor less. |
D．Watch the trees more often. |
It often appears that we have more to gain by speaking than by listening. One big advantage of speaking is that it gives you a chance to control others’ thoughts and actions. Whatever your goal is — to have a boss hire you, to 36 others to vote for the person of your 37 or to describe the 38 you want your hair cut ... the key to success seems to be the 39 to speak well.
Another 40 advantage of speaking is the chance it provides to 41 the admiration, respect, or liking of others. Tell jokes, and everyone will think you’re really a 42 man. Tell them all you know, and they’ll be 43 by your wisdom. But keep quiet, and it seems as if you are a 44 person.
Finally, talking gives you the 45 to release (释放) energy in a way that listening can’t. When you’re 46 , the chance to talk about your problems can often help you feel better. In the same way, you can often 47 your anger by letting it out orally. It is also helpful to 48 your excitement with others by talking about it, 49 keeping it inside often leaves you feeling as if you might burst.
While it is true that talking does have many advantages, it’s important to 50 that listening can do good to listeners, too. As you’ll soon read, being a good listener is one good way to 51 others with their problems; and what better way is there to have others 52 you? As for controlling others, it may be true that it’s hard to be persuasive while you’re listening, but your 53 to hear others out will often make them open to your ideas 54 . Listening is often reciprocal (互惠的). “You get what you 55 .”
36. A. insist B. advise C. persuade D. suggest
37. A. friend B. relation C. choice D. leader
38. A. idea B. way C. means D. plan
39. A. resource B. energy C. power D. ability
40. A. obvious B. easy C. new D. special
41. A. gain B. grasp C. remain D. seize
42. A. successful B. simple C. wise D. stupid
43. A. affected B. impressed C. instructed D. moved
44. A. fruitless B. priceless C. worthless D. senseless
45. A. pleasure B. course C. duty D. chance
46. A. in trouble B. in danger C. in debt D. in silence
47. A. reduce B. lengthen C. deepen D. widen
48. A. control B. share C. enjoy D. remove
49. A. or B. so C. for D. though
50. A. suppose B. notice C. realize D. imagine
51. A. fail B. cure C. hurt D. help
52. A. appreciate B. listen to C. envy D. support
53. A. kindness B. favor C. willingness D. eagerness
54. A. by turns B. in return C. in turn D. in order
55. A. lose B. ask for C. need D. give
— Was Li Lei sorry for what he’d done to his parents? — ______! It was just like him!
|
A．Never mind |
B．All right |
C．Not really |
D．Not surprisingly |
He failed in his business a third time and only then ______ the difficult situation he was in.
|
A．I realized |
B．I had realized |
C．had I realized |
D．did I realize |
The local government must take measures to bring the problem of water pollution _________ the attention ________ the public.
|
A．for; to |
B．to; of |
C．for; of |
D．to; to |
They are ________ for new skills so that they can be qualified for the new jobs.
|
A．hurried |
B．eager |
C．worried |
D．nervous |
