【托福阅读备考】托福阅读背景知识——微笑的力量

笑是人类最美的语言，也是最好的健康保养品。我们常说“笑一笑十年少”，不过你知道吗?笑真的对健康有着莫大的作用。我们一起来看看托福阅读背景材料：笑有利于健康。

Laughter is good for the heart because it prolongs life while depression increases the risk of an early death, according to two new studies.

据两份最新研究表明，大笑有益心脏健康，能延年益寿; 相反，忧郁增加早死的危险。

A good bout of laughter every day provides similar cardiovascular benefits as exercise because it stimulates the blood flow, said Michael Miller, who headed one research team at the University of Maryland.

其中一项研究的负责人、美国马里兰大学的迈克尔?米勒表示，坚持每天开怀大笑，能促进血液流动，像锻炼身体一样，提高心血管健康。

On the other hand, depression -- or the lack of laughter -- is often linked to unhealthy habits such as smoking and drug addiction and increases the risk of death by 44 percent, said Wein Jiang, who led a study of 1,000 heart patients for the University of North Carolina.

另一方面，北卡罗莱纳大学的WeinJiang负责的另一项研究，研究了1000个心脏病患者则表明，沮丧或者少笑常常与不健康习惯联系在一起。比如，吸烟，吸毒等。同时，死亡的危险增加44%。

Miller said laughter produced a "magnitude of change ... in the endothelium... similar to the benefit we might see with aerobic activity, but without the aches, pains and muscle tension associated with exercise"

Miller称笑会在心内膜内引起很大的变化，其功效类似于我们进行的有氧运动，而且避免了因为锻炼而疼痛或肌肉紧张等不良影响。

While laughter should not replace exercise, he said, "We do recommend that you try to laugh on a regular basis. Thirty minutes of exercise three times a week, and 15 minutes of laughter on a daily basis is probably good for the vascular system."

他还表示，笑并不能代替锻炼。我们强烈建议每天都笑笑。一周坚持三次半小时以上的运动，每天笑15分钟，这样会对人们的脉管体统大有裨益。”

Notes:

Cardio-vascular [,k?:di u'v skjul ] adj. 心血管的

endothelium [,end u'θi:li m] n. 内皮;内覆组织

aerobic activity: 有氧运动

以上就是今天的托福阅读材料，大家可以在练习托福阅读材料的同时，积累一些相关词汇及句型，以便考试的时候更好地把握文意，夺得托福阅读的高分。