VOA慢速英语2018--园艺的健康益处

The Health Benefits of Gardening

From VOA Learning¹ English, this is the Health & Lifestyle Report.

As spring comes to half the world, many people can enjoy the new growth that comes with warmer weather. This is a great time to get outside and get dirty!

Gardening is popular in many parts of the world. This outdoor activity gives us beautiful plants, pleasant smelling flowers and fresh fruits and vegetables.

But it also gives us many health benefits.

Reduces loneliness

Gardening connects people. When you are gardening, you are outdoors. So it is a perfect time to socialize with your neighbors.

Most people love to talk about their hobbies, and gardeners are no different. They usually enjoy showing people what they are growing. And most enjoy sharing advice and stories about their gardens almost as much as sharing herbs, flowers and vegetables from their gardens.

Gardening can greatly widen² a person’s community.

Some people may not have the resources to have their own garden. So, many cities and towns have community gardens. You can either volunteer or just visit to learn more.

Check what resources are available to you in your area. If there are no community gardens near you, there may be government money available to help you start one.

Healthy activity for children

Gardening is a great activity to do with children. It gets families outdoors and off computers, televisions and other electronics³.

Gardening can be a great teacher.

Children can learn about nature and wildlife. Gardening can teach a child about where food comes from and healthy eating. It can also help them to understand the limits of natural resources and the importance of using them carefully.

Vitamin D

When you are in your garden, you might feel the sunshine on your skin. This means you are getting Vitamin D.

Vitamin D helps our bodies use calcium⁵. That is necessary to keep bones strong. Vitamin D also helps us fight diseases⁶.

Exercise

Also, when you garden you must move around. All the different movements needed for gardening -- bending, twisting, stretching and lifting -- work small muscles in the body.

And you can easily get a good work out when you are digging holes or pulling weeds.

Stress

Gardening may also help you to feel calm and happy.

A study by researchers in the Netherlands found that gardening may reduce the stress hormone⁷ cortisol in the brain.

Scientists say that high levels of cortisol in the body interfere⁸ with learning and memory. It can also increase a person’s weight, blood pressure and cholesterol⁹ levels. Chronic¹⁰, high levels of cortisol increase the risk for depression, mental illness and lower life expectancy¹¹.

In the study, the researchers gave 30 gardeners a difficult, stressful task. After completing the task, researchers measured their cortisol levels. The gardeners self-reported on their mood, or how they felt emotionally¹³.

Then the gardeners were asked to recover by either gardening outdoors or reading indoors¹⁴ for 30 minutes.

Both activities led to lower cortisol levels. However, the decreases were stronger in the gardening group. Also, those who gardened reported that their good moods returned fully⁴. The readers found that their bad moods only got worse.

Dementia and brain health

Gardening may help your brain stay young.

In another study in 2006, researchers looked at more than 2,800 people over the age of 60. They studied their lifestyle habits, activities and health over a 16-year period. They found that gardening could lower risk of future dementia by 36 percent.

Activities such as gardening uses many repeated actions, such as weeding or dead-heading (removing dying¹⁵ flowers from a plant). These actions have a calming effect on the brain. The brain is still active but not in the same way that it is, say, when we use computers.

In our technology-filled lives, gardening offers a chance to unplug. You cannot hold a phone or other electronic devices¹⁶ when your hands are filled with dirt.

Gardening can also give you the feeling that you have done something good.

A flower and herb garden can help feed bees and butterflies. Growing herbs and flowers, even in a of couple of pots at your city home, connects you to nature and pleases all of your senses.

What you grow in a garden usually looks, smells, feels and tastes really good.

And that's the Health & Lifestyle report. I'm Anna Matteo.

Words in This Story

garden – n. an area of ground where plants (such as flowers or vegetables) are grown; gardening – n. the activity of tending and cultivating¹⁷ a garden, especially as a pastime¹⁸

hobby – n. an interest or activity engaged in for pleasure

lonely – adj. sad from being apart from other people : loneliness – n. the state of feeling lonely

bend – v. to move your body so that it is not straight

twist – v. to turn a part of your body around

stress – n. a state of mental tension¹⁹ and worry caused by problems in your life, work, etc.

hormone – n. a natural substance that is produced in the body and that influences the way the body grows or develops

chronic – adj. medical : continuing or occurring again and again for a long time

mood – n. the way someone feels : a person's emotional¹² state

dementia –? n. a mental illness that causes someone to be unable to think clearly or to understand what is real and what is not real

1 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

2 widen   

v.(使)扩大；(使)变宽

参考例句：

• We should widen the opportunities for adequate medical care.我们应当使得到适当医药救护的机会更为扩大。
• When are they going to widen the streets?他们打算什么时候把这些街道加宽？

3 electronics   

n.电子器件，电子学，电子技术

参考例句：

• About 45000 people worked in electronics in Scotland.苏格兰约有4.5万人在电子行业工作。
• He wants to brush up his knowledge of electronics.他想温习他的电子学知识。

4 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

5 calcium   

n.钙(化学符号Ca)

参考例句：

• We need calcium to make bones.我们需要钙来壮骨。
• Calcium is found most abundantly in milk.奶含钙最丰富。

6 diseases   

n.疾病( disease的名词复数 )；弊端；恶疾；痼疾

参考例句：

• Smoking is a causative factor in several major diseases. 抽烟是引起几种严重疾病的病因。
• The illness frequently coexists with other chronic diseases. 这种病往往与其他慢性病同时存在。

7 hormone   

n.荷尔蒙，激素，内分泌

参考例句：

• Hormone implants are used as growth boosters.激素植入物被用作生长辅助剂。
• This hormone interacts closely with other hormones in the body.这种荷尔蒙与体內其他荷尔蒙紧密地相互作用。

8 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

9 cholesterol   

n.（U）胆固醇

参考例句：

• There is cholesterol in the cell of body.人体细胞里有胆固醇。
• They are determining the serum-protein and cholesterol levels.他们正在测定血清蛋白和胆固醇的浓度。

10 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

11 expectancy   

n.期望，预期，（根据概率统计求得）预期数额

参考例句：

• Japanese people have a very high life expectancy.日本人的平均寿命非常长。
• The atomosphere of tense expectancy sobered everyone.这种期望的紧张气氛使每个人变得严肃起来。

12 emotional   

adj.令人动情的；易动感情的；感情(上)的

参考例句：

• Emotional people don't stop to calculate.感情容易冲动的人做事往往不加考虑。
• This is an emotional scene in the play.这是剧中动人的一幕。

13 emotionally   

adv.感情上，情绪上，冲动地

参考例句：

• a special school for emotionally disturbed children 为精神异常儿童开办的特殊学校
• A wide range of emotionally stressful events may trigger a relapse. 多种令人情绪紧张的事情都可能引起旧病复发。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 indoors   

adv.(在)室内，(在)户内

参考例句：

• Because of the coldness of the weather we stayed indoors.我们因天气寒冷呆在家里。
• It is very cold outside,you'd better come indoors across the board.外面很冷，你们所有人最好都进屋。

15 dying   

adj.垂死的，临终的

参考例句：

• He was put in charge of the group by the dying leader.他被临终的领导人任命为集团负责人。
• She was shown into a small room,where there was a dying man.她被领进了一间小屋子，那里有一个垂死的人。

16 devices   

n.设备；装置( device的名词复数 )；花招；（为实现某种目的的）计划；手段

参考例句：

• electrical labour-saving devices around the home 节省劳力的各种家用电器
• modern labour-saving devices such as washing machines and dishwashers 诸如洗衣机和洗碗机之类的现代化省力设备

17 cultivating   

v.耕( cultivate的现在分词 )；建立（友谊）；种植；陶冶思想[感情]

参考例句：

• The farmer is cultivating his land. 农民在耕耘土地。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The responsibilities of a teacher lie not only in the inculcation of knowledge, but also in the setting of good examples and cultivating of virtues. 老师的责任不单是传授知识，更要树立良好榜样，培养学生的品德。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 pastime   

n.消遣，娱乐

参考例句：

• Playing chess is his favourite pastime.下棋是他最喜爱的消遣。
• Baseball is the national pastime.棒球是全民性的休闲运动。

19 tension   

n.(紧张)状态；拉(绷)紧；张力，拉力

参考例句：

• I could feel the tension in the room. 我可以感觉到房间里的紧张气氛。
• Relaxaion is better than tension. 缓和比紧张好。