VOA慢速英语2018 城市生活会危害心理健康?

Does City Living Hurt Mental Health?

From VOA Learning English, this is the Health & Lifestyle report.

这里是VOA慢速英语健康生活报道。

Are people happier in nature with blue skies overhead and fresh green grass underfoot? Could noisy streets, crowded with cars and people, make us unhappy?

头顶蔚蓝天空、脚踏茵茵绿草，这种大自然生活是否能让人们更加快乐呢？嘈杂的街道、水泄不通的交通和摩肩擦踵的人群会让我们烦躁吗？

The possible mental health effects of city living affects a lot of people. The World Health Organization estimates that 54 percent of the world’s population lived in urban areas in 2014. The WHO adds that that amount will increase to 66 percent by 2050.

城市生活可能会影响很多人的心理健康。世界卫生组织估计，2014年，世界的城市人口达到54%。世界卫生组织补充到，到2050年，这个数值会增加到66%。

People often move to cities for better jobs and more cultural activities. But are they putting themselves at risk? Maybe.

通常，人们移居城市是为了更好的工作以及丰富的文化生活。但是，他们是否会让自己身处险境呢？也许是的。

Experts at the American Psychiatry 1 Association say that "natural environments or green spaces" do much for good our mental health.

美国精神病学协会的专家说表示，“自然环境或绿地”对我们的心理健康大有裨益。

Many studies have shown that nature can calm us and make us feel happy. Nature, experts say, can also help us learn better. And experiencing nature helps people recover from the mental tiredness that comes from day-to-day work.

多项研究表明，大自然能平复我们的心境，让人产生愉悦感。专家还指出，自然有利于我们更好的学习。置身大自然有利于人们将日常工作带来的精神疲劳一扫而光。

Other research also suggests that activity in natural outdoor settings can help to reduce the symptoms of Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder 2 (ADHD) in children. ADHD is a brain disorder that can effect a person’s ability to think clearly.

其它研究还表明，在大自然环境中进行室外活动可帮助儿童减少注意缺陷障碍和多动症症状。注意力缺陷伴多动症是大脑紊乱症，会导致大脑无法认真思考。

On the other hand, mental health experts say some research suggests that city living might hurt our mental health. But they cannot say exactly why.

另一方面，心理健康专家称，一些研究表明，城市生活可能会伤害我们的心理健康。但是没有确切说法。

"What are the specific aspects of the urban environment which causes some people to develop mental health issues?"

城市环境具体从哪些方面引发心理健康问题呢？

Andrea Mechelli is a doctor with the Institute of Psychiatry at Kings College, London.

安德烈·米凯利（Andrea Mechell）是伦敦国王学院精神病学研究所的医生。

"There have been studies where people were literally 3 taken out of an urban environment into a rural environment, and their symptoms would improve. And we also see that the greater the city the greater the risk.”

有研究表明，人们从城市搬到农村居住后，精神状况会有所改善。我们还发现，城市规模越大，（健康）风险也越大。

Mechelli says that someone who lives in a city is three times more likely to develop psychosis than someone who lives in the country.

米凯利说，城市居民患精神疾病的几率是乡下居民的3倍。

Kings College researchers, along with city planners, land and building designers and others wanted to learn more about city living and mental illness. So, they created a smartphone app called Urban Mind. They say they wanted to understand how different parts of the urban environment affect mental wellbeing.

国王学院的研究人员与城市规划师、土地规划建筑设计师以及其他人想了解更多关于城市生活与精神疾病（的信息）。因此，他们开发了一款名为“Urban Mind”的手机应用。他们称，想了解不同的城市环境是如何影响心理健康的。

The Urban Mind app measures your experience of city living in the moment. Researchers collected real time information from 108 people. These people answered just over 3,000 questions during a one-week period.

这款“Urban Mind”的应用实时记录下你对城市生活的感受。研究人员收集了108人的实时信息。这些人在一周内回答了3000多个问题。

The researchers found that "being outdoors, seeing trees, hearing birdsong, seeing the sky, and feeling in contact with nature were associated with higher levels of mental well-being 4."

研究人员发现，“置身户外、观赏绿植、聆听鸟鸣、仰望天空等”接触大自然的感觉与良好的精神状态紧密相连。

They also found that these seeming effects of nature were especially strong in those individuals at greater risk of mental health problems.

他们还发现，这些自然因素对心理健康问题较严重的患者效果更为显著。

The Urban Mind Project team says it hopes "the results will inform future urban planning and social policy aimed at improving design and health."

Urban Mind项目组表示，希望该研究结果能让未来的城市规划和社会政策致力于改善设计，改善人们健康水平。

Their report is titled "Urban Mind: Using Smartphone Technologies to Investigate the Impact of Nature on Mental Wellbeing in Real Time." It was published in the January publication of BioScience magazine.

他们的报告题目为“Urban Mind：运用智能手机技术，实时调查自然对心理健康产生的影响”。这项报告发布在1月份的《生物科学》杂志上。

The researchers launched a new version of the Urban Mind app in March 2018. This new version will feature several languages and will be used for a large international study.

2018年3月，研究人员推出了Urban Mind应用的新版本。这一新版本拥有多种语言，将用于大型国际研究。

If you are interested in the project, you can visit the website at UrbanMind.info.

如果你对该项目感兴趣，可直接访问 UrbanMind.info网站。

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

Words in This Story

urban – adj. of or relating to cities and the people who live in them

specific – adj. relating to a particular person, situation, etc.

aspect – n. a part of something

literally – adv. used to stress that a statement or description is true and accurate even though it may be surprising

symptom – n. a change in the body or mind which indicates that a disease is present

psychosis – n. a very serious mental illness that makes you behave strangely or believe things that are not true

smartphone app – n. A mobile application, most commonly referred to as an app, is a type of application software designed to run on a mobile device, such as a smartphone or tablet computer.

associate – v. to think of one person or thing when you think of another person or thin