Green Plants Can Help Us Reduce Stress绿植能够帮助我们减压

陈传光

坐在书桌前的你，是不是偶尔也会感到疲惫？不妨在你的书桌上放几盆绿植，这样既可以净化空气，又可以缓解学习带来的疲惫感。绿意盎然的植物在帮助你舒缓心情的同时，还能帮你振奋精神、提高学习效率。

It is not a surprise that people in the modern times are havingmuch more stress than before. Luckily， a new study has found aneasy way to deal with the problem. Researchers have found thatgreen plants on the desk can go a long way towards reducingpeople’s stress.

More than 60 people from different jobs took part in the study.Half of them were asked to work as usual without any plants on thedesk while the other half were given a plant to put on their desks.Researchers then used a 1）standard test to 2）measure their stresslevels. More than 90 percent of the office workers showed lowerstress levels after taking a three-minute rest to look at their plants.

The study has found that it does not matter whether peoplewere directly looking at their plants or only having the plants neartheir computers. As long as people had a green plant in sight， theirstress levels changed. Moreover， this finding worked on everyone，no matter how old they were and what their jobs were.

“People used to go outdoors into nature to relax themselves，but now they have less time to do so，” one of the researchers said.“Luckily， our study has proved that a small green plant can helppeople reduce stress.”

1） standard adj. 標准的

2） measure v. 测量

现代人的压力比以前大得多，这不足为奇。幸运的是，一项新的研究发现了一种解决这个问题的简单方法。研究人员发现，桌上的绿色植物可以减轻人们的压力。

来自不同工作岗位的60 多人参加了这项研究。其中一半人被要求在桌上没有任何植物的情况下照常工作，而另一半人则被要求在桌上放一盆植物。研究人员随后使用标准测试来测量他们的压力水平。超过90% 的上班族在休息3 分钟并看植物后，压力水平会降低。

这项研究发现，无论人们是直接看植物，还是只让植物靠近电脑，都无关紧要。只要人们看到绿色植物，他们的压力水平就会发生变化。此外，这一发现对每个人都有效，无论他们多大年纪，从事什么工作。

一位研究人员说：“人们过去常到户外去放松自己，但现在他们这样做的时间更少了。幸运的是，我们的研究证明，一盆小小的绿色植物就可以帮助人们减轻压力。”