陈传光

It is not a surprise that people in the modern times are having much more stressthan before. Luckily， a new study has found an easy way to deal with the problem.Researchers from a university in Japan have found that small green plants on thedesk can go a long way towards reducing peoples stress.

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。日本一所大学的研究人员发现，桌上小小的绿植可以大大减轻人们的压力。

More than 60 people from different jobs tookpart in the study. Half of them were asked to work asusual without any plants while the other half weregiven a plant to put on their desks. Researchers thenused a standard test to measure their stress levels.More than 90 percent of the office workers showedlower stress levels after taking a three-minute rest to look at their plants.

来自不同工作岗位的60 多人参与了这项研究。其中一半人被要求在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子上放一颗植物。研究人员随后使用一个标准测试来测量他们的压力水平。超过90%的上班族在休息三分钟看看植物后，显示出较低的压力水平。

The study has found that it does not matter whether people were directlylooking at their plants or only having the plants near their computers. As longas people had a green plant in sight2， their stress levels changed greatly.Moreover， this finding worked on everyone no matter how old they were andwhat their jobs were.

这项研究发现，无论人们是直接看着自己的植物，还是只是把植物放在他们电脑附近，都无关紧要。只要人们的视线范围内有绿色植物，他们的压力水平就会发生很大变化。此外，这一发现适用于每个人，无论他们是多大年纪，从事的是什么工作。

“People used to go outdoors into nature to relax themselves， but nowthey have less time to do so，”one of the researchers said.“Luckily， our studyhas proved3 that a small green plant can helppeople reduce stress successfully.”

“人們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。”一位研究人员说，“幸运的是，我们的研究证明，一颗小小的绿色植物可以帮助人们成功地减轻压力。”

Notes

1. reduce 减少；降低

2. sight 看见；见到；视野

3. prove 证实；证明