The city has always been an engine of intellectual life, from the 18th century cafes of London, where citizens gathered to discuss chemistry and politics, to the Left Bank bars of modem Paris, where Picasso talked about modem art. Without the metropolis, we might not have had the great art of Shakespeare.And yet, city life isn"t easy. Now scientists have begun to examine how the city affects the brain, and the results are depressing. Just being in an urban environment, they have found, impairs (损害) our basic mental processes. After spending a few minutes on a crowded city street, the brain is less able to hold things in memory, and suffers from reduced self control. While it"s long been recognized that city life is exhausting, this new research suggests that cities actually dull our thinking, sometimes dramatically so.One of the main forces at work is a complete lack of nature, which is surprisingly beneficial for the brain. Studies have demonstrated, for instance, that hospital patients recover more quickly when they can see trees from their windows, and that women living in public housing are better able to focus when their apartments overlook a lawn. Even these glimpses of nature improve brain performance, it seems, because they provide a mental break from the urban life.This research arrives just as humans cross an important milestone (里程碑). For the first time in history, the majority of people live in cities. Instead of inhabiting wide open spaces, we"re crowded into concrete jungles, surrounded by traffic and millions of strangers. In recent years, it"s become clear that such unnatural surroundings have important implications for our mental and physical health, and can powerfully alter how we think.This research is also leading some scientists to dabble (涉足) in urban design, as they look for ways to make the city less damaging to the brain. The good news is that even slight alterations, such as planting more trees in the inner city or creating urban parks with a greater variety of plants, can significantly reduce the negative side effects of city life. The mind needs nature, and even a little bit can be a big help. People have just come to realize that ______.
A. human attention is a scarce resource
B. city life can make people very tired
C. the city is an engine of intellectual life
D. an urban environment is damaging to the brain
In the United States elementary education begins at the age of six. At this stage nearly all the teachers are women, mostly married. The atmosphere is usually very friendly, and the teachers have now accepted the idea that the important thing is to make the children happy and interested. The old authoritarian (要绝对服从的) methods of education were discredited (不被认可) rather a long time ago-so much so that many people now think that they have gone too far in the direction of trying to make children happy and interested rather than giving them actual instruction.The social education of young children tries to make them accept the idea that human beings in a Society need to work together for their common good. So the emphasis is on cooperation rather than competition throughout most of this process. This may seem curious, in view of the fact that American society is highly competitive; however, the need for making people sociable in this sense has come to be regarded as one of the functions of education. Most Americans do grow up with competitive ideas, and obviously quite a few as criminals, but it is not fair to say that the educational system fails. It probably does succeed in making most peoplesociableand ready to help one another both in material ways and through kindness and friendliness. The American educational system emphasizes ______.
A. material wealth
B. competition
C. cooperation
D. personal benefit