大自然疗法（A Grassroots Remedy）

Most of us spend our lives seeking the natural world. To this end, we walk the dog, play golf, go fishing, sit in the garden, drink outside rather than inside the pub, have a picnic, live in the suburbs, go to the seaside, buy a weekend place in the country. The most popular leisure activity in Britain is going for a walk. And when joggers jog, they don't run the streets. Every one of them instictively heads to the park or the river. It is my profound belief that not only do we all need nature, but we all seek nature, whether we know we are doing so or not.

生活中，许多人都在寻求与大自然亲近。为此，我们会遛狗，打高尔夫，钓鱼，去花园静坐，在外面喝酒（不是酒馆），举行野餐，住郊区，逛海边以及花钱去乡村度周末。英国最受欢迎的休闲活动是散步；散步时，他们不会选择街道，都会本能地前往公园或小河边。我深信，我们不仅需要大自然，我们每个人也在寻觅着大自然，不管我们知道与否。

    But despite this, our children are growing up nature-deprived（丧失）. I spent my boyhood climbing trees on Streatham Common, South London. These days, children are robbed of these ancient freedoms, due to problems like crime, traffic, the loss of the open spaces and odd new perceptions about what is best for children, that is to say, things that can be bought, rather than things that can be found.

尽管如此，我们的孩子们似乎正在丧自然的天性。我的童年是在伦敦南部的Streatham Common度过的，小时候很喜欢爬树。现如今，孩子们很难再享受到那种自由，因为犯罪交通问题层出不穷，露天场所大量流失，社会上还出现了一些奇怪的新观念（什么对孩子最好呢？能买到的东西，而不是发现的东西）。

The truth is to be found elsewhere. A study in the US: families had moved to better housing and the children were assessed for ADHD -- attention deficit hyperactivity disorder（多动症）. Those whose accommodation had more natural views showed an improvement of 19%; those who had the same improvement in material surroundings but no nice view improved just 4%.

这一现象在其它地方也得到了证实。美国人做了一项调查：将一些家庭迁入更好住房，然后对孩子们患多动症（ADHD）的概率进行评估。调查发现，自然风光视野更开阔的住房改善了19%，而那些环境有所改善，但视野不够开阔的住房仅改善了4%。

    A study in Sweden indicated that kindergarden children who could play in a ntural environment had less illness and greater physical ability than children used only to a normal playground. A US study suggested that when a school gave children access to a natural environment, academic levels were raised across the entire school.

瑞典的一项研究显示，在自然环境中玩耍的幼儿园小朋友比在运动场玩耍的小朋友少患病，身体也更健康。美国的一项研究也表明，如果学校提供孩子们优秀的自然环境，学校的学术水平也会上一新台阶。

    Another study found that children play differently in a natural environment. In playgrounds, children create a hierarchy(等级) based on physical abilities, with the tough ones taking the lead. But when a grassy area was planted with bushes, the children got much more into fantasy play, and the social hierarchy was now based on imaginations and creativity.

另一项研究发现，孩子们在自然环境中玩耍的也不尽相同。在运动场上，孩子们会因体能问题而出现不同的级别，身体结实的占主导地位。但是，如果一片绿草坪种上几丛灌木，孩子们会更容易进入角色。社会等级观念主要产生于人的想象力和创造力。

    Most bullying(恃强凌弱) is found in schools where there is a tarmac(柏油碎石) playground; the least bullying is in a natural area that the children are encouraged to explore. This reminds me unpleasantly of Sunnyhill School in Streamham, with its harsh tarmac, where I used to hang about in corners fantasising about wildlife.

大多数恃强凌弱的现象发生在有柏油碎石运动场的学校，这种现象在孩子们感兴趣去发现的自然环境中很少发生。这让我想起了在Streamham的Sunnyhill学校，粗糙的柏油碎石路，我常常躲在角落里幻想着外边的野生动植物。

   But children are frequently discouraged from involvement with natural spaces, for health and safety reasons, for fear that they might get dirty or that they might cause damage. So, instead, the damage is done to the children themselves: not to their bodies but to their souls.

但是，因为健康和安全的原因，也担心会弄脏或受伤，孩子们经常被阻止与自然生态环境接触。结果，这对他们有很大伤害：不是伤身，而是伤着精神。

    One of the great problems of modern childhood is ADHD, now increasingly and expensively treated with drugs. Yet one study after another indicates that contact with nature gives huge benefits to ADHD children. However, we spend money on drugs rather than on green places.

多动症是困扰童年时期的孩子们的主要难题之一，越来越多的孩子已开始接受贵重的药物治疗。但是，众多研究表明，与自然接触对患有多动症的孩子最有益。虽然如此，我们还是把钱花在了药物上，而非绿化环境。

    The life of old people is measurably better when they have access to nature. The increasing emphasis for the growing population of old people is in quality rather than quantity of years. And study after study finds that a garden is the single most important thing in finding that quality.

如果老年人有接触大自然的机会，生活状况会明显改善不少。随着老年人的增多，我们应该更多地关注他们的生活质量，而不是生活年限。众多研究发现，花园是提高老年人生活质量唯一最重要的因素。

    In wider and more difficult areas of life, there is evidence to indicate that natural surroundings improve all kinds of things. Even problems with crime and aggressive behaviour are reduced when there is contact with the natural world.

有证据显示，在野外生活时，自然环境能改善许多东西。在与自然界接触时，犯罪和挑衅问题也减少了很多。

    Dr William Bird, researcher from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, states in his study. “A natural environment can reduce violent behaviour because its restorative process helps reduce anger and impulsive behaviour.” Wild places need encouraging for this reason, no matter how small their contribution.

英国皇家鸟类保护协会的研究员威廉.伯德博士说：“自然环境能减少暴力行为，因为其恢复过程有助于减少愤怒和冲动。”为此，不管有没有作用，我们都应该多鼓励去野外走走。

    We tend to look on nature conservation as some kind of favour that human beings are granting to the natural world. The error here is far too deep: not only do humans need nature for themselves, but the very idea that humanity and the natural world are separable things is profoundly damaging.

长期以来，生态保护被看作人类赏给大自然的一种恩赐。但是，从深层次来理解，这种观念是不正确的：人类不仅自己需要大自然，而且人文与自然界可分割的非常理念是毁灭性的。

    Human beings are a species of mammals (哺乳动物). For seven million years they lived on the planet as part of nature. Our ancestral selves miss the natural world and long for contact with non-human life. Anyone who has patted a dog, stroked a cat, sat under a tree with a pint of beer, given or received a bunch of flowers or chosen to walk through the park on nice day, understands that.

人类是一种哺乳动物。700年来，作为大自然的一部分，他们生活在这个星球上。我们的祖先热爱大自然，也喜欢与身边的其它事物接触。喜欢逗狗，抚摸小猫，坐树下喝啤酒，送人花束或接受花束，以及在天气好的时候去公园散步的朋友应该很清楚这一点。

    We need the wild world. It is essential to our well-being, our health, our happiness. Without the wild world we are not more but less civilized. Without other living things around us we are less than human.

我们需要大自然，因为它对我们的快乐，健康和幸福至关重要。没有大自然，我们将缺少文明。没有其它生物围绕在我们周围，我们也不能称之为人类。

Five ways to find harmony with the natural world

五种与大自然和谐相处的方法

    Walk: Break the rhythm of permanently being under a roof. Get off a stop earlier, make a circuit of the park at lunchtime, walk the child to and from school, get a dog, feel yourself moving in moving air, look, listen, absorb.

散步：打破长久呆在屋檐下的节奏。提前一站下车，吃午餐时绕公园溜一圈，让孩子徒步上学回家，养狗，在流动的空气中放松自己，观察，倾听和吸收。

    Sit: Take a moment, every now and then, to be still in an open space. In the garden, anywhere that’s not in the office, anywhere out of the house, away from the routine. Sit under a tree, look at water, feel refreshed, ever so slightly renewed.

坐：经常花些时间去露天场所坐一会。可以是花园，办公室之外的其它地方，房子外面，总之，远离自己的日常工作。坐树下憩息，看看水面，会感觉清新自然，很快也恢复了精神。

    Drink: The best way to enjoy the natural world is by yourself; the second best way is in company. Take a drink outside with a good person, a good gathering: talk with the sun and the wind with birdsong for background.

喝：享受大自然最好的方式是一个人欣赏，其次是找个人陪同。和好朋友在外面喝一杯，好好聚一次：谈天论地，以鸟声做伴。

    Learn: Expand your boundaries. Learn five species of birds, five butterflies, five trees, five bird songs. That way, you see and hear more: and your mind responds, gradually to the greater amount of wildness in your life.

学习：扩大你的知识面。了解五种鸟类，五种蝴蝶，五种树木和五类鸟声。这种方式，你看和听多了之后，思维也跟着作出反应，渐渐融入大自然。

    Travel: The places you always wanted to visit: by the seaside, in the country, in the hills. Take a weekend break, a day-trip, get out there and do it; for the scenery, for the way through the woods, for the birds, for the bees. Go somewhere special and bring specialness bome. It lasts forever, after all.

旅行：去你想去的地方：海边，乡下或小山坡。周末可以抽一天去那里，观风景，林间小道，鸟类甚至蜜蜂。去一个特殊的地方，带特别的东西回来。毕竟，它会持续很久。