2023 年 06 月大学英语四级考试真题（第 3 套）

Whether you're just having a down day or a down period, taking a walk can instantly lift your mood, especially when you go outdoors. Not only can walking make you less depressed, but according to a new study, depression sufferers who took a __26__ walk showed just as much improvement in their __27__ as people taking medicine. In fact, 60-70 percent of the participants in the study could no longer even be __28__ as depressed.

Bone density may not be one of the most exciting health benefits of walking, but it's an important one. People with stronger bones avoid osteoporosis (骨质疏松症) and all the problems that __29__ with it, like breaks and other disabilities. And the best way to get strong, healthy bones is by doing weight-bearing exercises like running, dancing and walking, according to a large study. But as regards bones, it's __30__ use it or lose it: To keep your bones strong you have to keep exercising. The researchers found that adults who walked regularly had better bone density throughout their lives than their __31__ friends.

Taking a walk can be great for __32__ your head or blowing off some steam. It also provides a great opportunity to __33__ with friends and family, far away from electronics and other __34__ at home. Even better, you set a powerful example because when they see you __35__ the benefits of walking, they'll be encouraged to walk more, too.

Team-building exercises have become popular for managers trying to increase organisational and team harmony and productivity. Unfortunately many employees resent compulsory bonding and often regard these exercises as a nuisance.

A paper published this week by University of Sydney researchers in Social Networks has reported participants' feelings about team-building interventions (干预), revealing ethical implications in forcing employees to take part.

"Many people see team-building activities as a waste of time, so we decided to look in more depth at what's behind this," said the paper's lead researcher, Dr. Peter Matous.

"Teams are formed, combined and restructured. Staff are relocated and office spaces redesigned. All this is done with the aim of improving workplace efficiency, collaboration and cohesion. But does any of this work?" said Dr. Matous.

The study found that team-building exercises which focused on the sharing of and intervening into personal attitudes and relationships between team members were considered too heavy-handed and intrusive, although the researchers say some degree of openness and vulnerability is often necessary to make deep, effective connections with colleagues.

"Some participants were against team-building exercises because they were implicitly compulsory. They didn't welcome management's interest in their lives beyond their direct work performance," said Matous. "Many people don't want to be forced into having fun or making friends, especially not on top of their busy jobs. They feel management is being too nosy or trying to control their lives too much. "

In this study the researchers recommended a self-disclosure (表露) approach where participants were guided through a series of questions that allowed them to increasingly disclose personal information and values. The method is well-tested and has been shown to increase interpersonal closeness. However, to be successful it must be voluntary.

The researchers said there are numerous schools of thought that propose differing psychological methods for strengthening relationships. "With caution, many relational methods to improve teams and organisations can be borrowed from other fields. The question is how to apply them effectively to strengthen an entire collective, which is more than just the sum of individual relationships," said Dr. Matous.

There are close to 58,000 homeless people in Los Angeles county. That's a shocking and tragic number for a region that's home to some of the richest people in the world. At last, the problem became so acute-and so visible-that Los Angeles took extraordinary action. The citizens of this county voted in November 2016 and again in March 2017 to raise their own taxes. The purpose of such action is to fund an enormous multibillion-dollar, 10-year program of housing and social services for the homeless.

As a result, Los Angeles now has its best chance in decades to combat homelessness. This is an opportunity that surely all can agree must not be wasted. It is neither desirable nor morally acceptable nor practical for this county to tolerate the signs of deprivation more commonly associated with the slums (贫民窟) of Rio de Janiero.

How did we get here? For as long as there are homeless people, there is a tendency to blame the victims themselves for their condition—to see their failure to thrive as an issue of character, of moral weakness, of laziness. But contrary to popular belief, the homeless in Los Angeles are not mostly mentally ill or drug addicted or frightening, although a sizable minority meet some of those descriptions. Today, a greater and greater proportion of people living on the streets are there because of bad luck or a series of mistakes, or because the economy forgot them—they lost a job or were evicted (逐出) or fled an abusive marriage just as the housing market was growing increasingly unforgiving.

The challenges are enormous, even if everyone is pulling in the same direction. That reality was driven home this month by a new Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority report showing that the county's homeless population is growing faster than the supply of new housing.

In the world's richest nation, homelessness on this scale should be shameful and shocking. But most Los Angeles residents are no longer either shocked or shamed. Increasingly, we are uncomfortable, annoyed, disgusted, scared or unaware. Compassion (同情心) is being replaced by resignation.