In the 1940s, young male Royal Air Force pilots held needles as they waited for their next mission. Wartime pilots suffered a lot and knitting helped rebuild dexterity (灵巧) in wounded arms while also helping to settle wounded minds.
Today, millions of people around the world employ the same technique. “I know that if I haven’t knitted for a few days, I really miss it. It’s like meditation.” says Janine Smith, who owns a store in Sydney selling supplies for knitting.
Research supports Smith’s statement. Physiotherapist Betsan Corkhill and occupational therapist Jill Riley were part of a team from Cardiff University that, ten years ago, surveyed more than 3,500 knitters and found that the more frequently people knitted, the calmer and happier they felt.
Or as Jannie Smith puts it, “That rhythm of making stitch after stitch is like deep breathing. It’s a flow where you don’t have to stress about it, you’ve got the rhythm happening.”
“Flow” is a concept first named by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. As he wrote in his book, “The best moments in our lives are neither the passive nor relaxing times. The best moments usually occur if a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.”
The Cardiff research team found that many respondents described feeling calmer and in a better mood after knitting, and the majority of respondents who suffered from depression “perceived that knitting made them feel happier.” For respondents who suffered from chronic pain, almost nine out of ten said that knitting gave them a sense of accomplishment and a means of coping with their pain.
Interestingly, more than half of those surveyed said that knitting pushed them to develop other skills, like building furniture. Because knitting is so accessible — at its heart it’s two sticks and one stitch — it helps people build confidence in their abilities. After all, if you make a mistake, you can just pull it all out and start again.
【小题1】Why does the author mention young male Royal Air Force pilots in paragraph 1?| A．To give an example of a knitter. |
| B．To show the heavy burden on pilots. |
| C．To demonstrate the technique of pilots. |
| D．To introduce the healing effect of knitting. |
| A．Watching TV together with friends. | B．Taking physical exams. |
| C．Playing chess with a great opponent. | D．Reading funny comic books. |
| A．It motivates people to stretch their bodies. |
| B．It enables people to build furniture. |
| C．It helps people to get rid of chronic pain. |
| D．It allows people to build confidence to learn other skills. |
| A．Active Hands, Calm Minds | B．Healthier Attitude, Longer Life |
| C．Easy Knitting, Skill Building | D．Mind Calming, Flow Finding |
