2 . In a study from Washington State University, researchers have uncovered a significant correlation between the closeness of older adults to green and blue spaces and their mental and physical well-being. The study offers convincing evidence that even small increases in access to nature can remarkably improve the health outcomes of older adults.

A mere 10% increase in forest space within a person’s living environment is linked to a noticeable decrease in serious psychological conditions. This type of suffering includes mental health challenges that need treatment and block normal social, occupational, or educational functioning. Similarly, the new study proves that enhancing green spaces, water bodies, or trail lengths by 10% appears to lower the likelihood of older individuals reporting their overall health as poor.

The researchers analyzed health survey data from over 42,000 people aged 65 and above living in urban areas of Washington state, spanning (跨越) the years 2011 to 2019. The experts related the health outcomes of these individuals to various measures quantifying their access to nature within their living areas.

Initially presented at the American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting in April 2023, the research focused only on the link between psychological depression and closeness to natural spaces. The final study expanded to include additional metrics (指标) such as green space percentage and trail length, also taking into account demographic variables (人口统计变量) like race and education.

“Our findings suggest that abatement of our urban green and blue spaces due to rapid urbanization may not just have an environmental impact but could have a public health impact as well,” said Adithya Vegaraju, first author of the study.

Vegaraju said this research is among the first in the U. S. to specifically investigate the relationship between access to nature and health in the older population.

3 . We hear a lot about plastic polluting our ocean waters. Some of us have even made it a habit to avoid using plastic straws for the sake of turtles and other sea animals. Although these small acts of consideration go a long way, ocean waters still remain a threatening experience for sea life.

A helpless dolphin in Bali, Indonesia, experienced the unkindness of human negligence (疏忽) but luckily came across a few good people who saved it. The clean-up workers of 4ocean was cleaning up plastic from ocean garbage patches (垃圾带) when their boat touched a do lphin stuck in a ghost net — a fishing line left in the ocean. The workers immediately stopped their clean-up and carefully brought the dolphin onto the boat. The net was tied around the dolphin’s mouth and tail, causing it serious injuries. The workers cut through the line. The dolphin was then set free, but it paused for a few seconds as a kind of possible appreciation before swimming away. The video of the amazing rescue was uploaded on their social media and has been viewed 1. 1m illion times within a month.

The workers were Risallah, NurWahyudi, Mujtahidin and Husnan Sidik. “I was shaking when I touched the dolphin. I was afraid we hurt it more when we cut the fishing line,” said Mujtahidin. “It was a shocking moment,” continued Nur Wahyudi. Cameraman Husnan Sidik added, “As the cameraman, this is one of the greatest moments. We won’t experience this every day. We have the chance to free the dolphin and I’m sure the d lphin is also happy.”

The sea life needs as much help as we can offer. 4ocean is a task-driven company whose members aims to end the ocean plastic crisis (危机). It has removed 30 million pounds of rubbish from the world’s waterways, setting a new record. It hires locals from the worst affected areas of the ocean plastic disaster and gives them a full-time income and many benefits. The team is known to help both animals and humans.

5 . French first lady Brigitte Macron appeared to have strong feelings when she paid a surprise three-hour visit on Wednesday to her “godson” Yuan Meng, a giant panda in the Beauval Park Zoo, about 200 kilometers southwest of Paris.

“The first giant panda born in France on Aug 4, 2017. Yuan Meng is going to return to China’s Giant Panda Research and Reproduction Center in Chengdu on July 4 to join in the conservation (保护) program and breed with an unrelated female”, zoo director Rodolphe Delord said.

“Yuan Meng will soon go back to China, That’s why I wanted to be here today,” said the wife of French President Emmanuel Macron, who was accompanied by Secretary of State for Ecology Berangere Couillard. “I will try to go to see him maybe once there. But now, I have a little pinch (拧) in my heart. ”

Yuan Meng was born to his parents Yuan Zi and Huan Huan, who arrived in France in 2012.

“I have known Yuan Meng for five and a half years, and every time I see him, this same emotion comes back,” said Brigitte: who is known as Yuan Meng’s “godmother”. “We look at it and we don’t want to be anywhere else. But why, I don’t know,”

Yuan Meng survived (存活) after his birth in 2017, but his fragile twin brother, born 14 minutes earlier, unfortunately died just a few hours after birth,

Beauval Park Zoo announced Yuan Meng’s leaving the zoo in May. A zoo public relations official said that they are planning a goodbye event for Yuan Meng’s fans, but the date has yet to be decided.

The French first lady also went to see Yuandudu and Huanlili, twin panda sisters of Yuan Meng born in the zoo on Aug 2, 2021.

French football star Kylian Mbappe and Chinese Olympic diving gold medalist Zhang Jiaqi were named “godfather” and “godmother” of the twins, while attending the naming ceremony for the twins in Novermber 2021.

6 . Keep your goldfish in a tank which contains plants could make them clever, according to new American research. Scientists at Penn State University, in Pennsylvania, discovered that fish benefit from being in “enriched environment”. They believed that their discovery could provide a view on how to make fish successfully repopulate(使重新入住)oceans and rivers.

Professor Victoria Braithwaite explained that a lot of fish don’t survive once they are freed into the wild. She said that now fisheries(鱼场)solve this problem by breeding(繁殖)huge numbers of fish in the hope that some will survive. The professor believes that part of the reason why so many fish die is that they are bred in “pretty boring” tanks where there is always plenty of food and they are totally unprepared for free. To test this imagination, Braithwaite bred 30 fish in two separate tanks.

One contained plants and rocks which were regularly changed to ensure that the fish would not become bored, while the other was empty. When the researchers placed the fish in a maze(迷宫), the fish raised in the enriched tank made fewer mistakes when trying to escape from the maze. The performance of the fish from the enriched tank continued to improve with each experiment, and they learned to solve the maze puzzles much faster than the fish raised in the standard tank, according to the researchers.

They found increased expressions of a gene in a region of the fish’ s brain that is connected with learning and memory, a sign of increased brain function and growth. Braithwaite had concluded that interacting with the environment can influence gene expressions in the brain. “If you want to make the environment more interesting for your fish, change things around a bit,” she said.

7 . Christmas was approaching. I still hadn’t prepared a gift for my wife Donna. However, Donna was good at _________things, and she would have _________gifts for everyone long before Christmas.

We had just moved to Italy and were still _________.While Donna was away on business, I continued working on the _________so that we could live in it comfortably. I also cared for Princess, Donna’s beloved cat. One day, she rushed out and was gone!

Northern Italy is usually _________warm, so she wouldn’t_________. But she might have to handle feral (野生的) cats. Our holidays would be _________if Princess wasn’t back before Christmas. Therefore, I made a poster with a (n) _________of Princess, a hurried drawing and a promised pay back. Soon, people visited me with various feral cats because of my unclear drawing or the _________I offered, I could never ____________a hungry animal. So many cats moved into our yard soon.

Donna’s daily calls continued, and so did my daily visits. I still didn’t mention the ____________.Donna finally returned and showed me the gifts for Princess as we drove home, while ____________considered how to ____________the news.

When approaching our home, Donna shouted, “You give me the best Christmas gift!” I was ____________ . Looking around, I saw Princess playing with other cats in our yard! Then I realized Donna misunderstood my ____________.Anyway, that was how I avoided the possible blame and gave Donna a Christmas gift at the last minute again.

China’s First National Park

China’s first national park in Northwest of China’s Sanjiangyuan area,     1     (cover)a total area of 123,100 square kilometers, was officially established in 2020     2     schedule. The national park is the country’s calling card, and unlike nature reserves,     3     protect unique species, national parks stress the protection of the entire ecosystem.

Under the national park management, herders and     4     (farmer) will be turned into the forces of     5     (environment) protection in the Sanjiangyuan area. The work     6     (expect) to provide jobs, boost incomes and give people an     7     (encourage) to protect the environment. The ecological environment of the Sanjiangyuan area has greatly improved in recent years. The grassland coverage of the area has risen sharply     8     (compare) with the last decade. The last decade also saw a significant increase in the number of wild animals, because the number of Tibetan antelopes     9     (be) over 70,000 from less than 20,000 in     10     1980s.

10 . Super Typhoon Mangkhut to Hit Philippines, Southeast Asia

As the United States prepares for Hurricane Florence, an even bigger ocean storm, Super Typhoon Mangkhut, is set to hit Southeast Asia. The storm also threatens the Philippines and Hong Kong.The super typhoon, known as Ompong in the Philippines, has winds of up to 250 kilometers per hour. That is considered a category 5 hurricane in North America, the most severe level.

More than 4 million Filipinos live in areas the storm could affect. Emergency officials say nearly 48,000 houses in high-risk areas are made of light materials and could be damaged by the powerful winds.

Experts say Super Typhoon Mangkhut could cause landslides and flooding across the northern Philippine island of Luzon.

The super typhoon is expected to reach the Philippines Saturday at the start of the harvest season in Luzon. The island is a major agricultural producer and farmers are trying to save their crops.

Forecaster Meno Mendoza shows the path of Super Typhoon Mangkhut, locally named “Typhoon Ompong,” as it approaches the Philippines at the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration in Manila, Sept, 12, 2018.

Mangkhut already has hit the U.S. — island territory of Guam. The Pacific Daily News reported the storm flooded streets, brought down trees and cut electrical service. About 80 percent of the island was without power but service restarted by Thursday morning.Mangkhut is the 15th storm to hit the Philippines and the most powerful to hit Asia this year. Last week, Typhoon Jebi (飞燕) struck Japan killing more than 10 people.

This is adapted for Learning English based on AP and other reports. Mario Ritter was the editor.Write to us in the Comments Section.