The Health Benefits of Gardening

Gardening is popular in many parts of the world. This outdoor activity gives us beautiful plants, pleasant smelling flowers and fresh fruits and vegetables. 【小题1】

Gardening connects people. When you are gardening, you are outdoors. 【小题2】 Most people love to talk about their hobbies, and gardeners are no different. They usually enjoy showing people what they are growing. And most enjoy sharing advice and stories about their gardens.

Gardening is a great activity to do with children. Children can learn about nature and wildlife. Gardening can teach a child about where food comes from and healthy eating. It can also help them to understand the limits of natural resources and the importance of using them carefully.

【小题4】 This means you are getting Vitamin D. Vitamin D helps our bodies use calcium. That is necessary to keep bones strong. Vitamin D also helps us fight diseases.

When you garden you must move around. All the different movements needed for gardening — bending, twisting, stretching and lifting — work small muscles in the body. And you can easily get a good work out when you are digging holes or pulling weeds.

Gardening may help your brain stay young. Activities such as gardening use many repeated actions, such as weeding or dead-heading (removing dying flowers from a plant). 【小题5】 The brain is still active but not in the same way that it is, say, when we use computers. In our technology-filled lives, gardening offers a chance to unplug. You cannot hold a phone or other electronic devices when your hands are filled with dirt.

Four Ways Your Cat Tries to Communicate with You

Cats are amazing creatures, and while they can’t talk to us, they certainly know how to communicate their needs and feelings. It’s just up to us to learn how to listen to what they are saying.

Meowing

Cats meow at their owners for several reasons, including: to ask for food, to greet people, to ask for attention, to let you know they want to go outside/come inside. In addition, elderly cats suffering from cognitive disfunction, similar to Alzheimer’s Disease (阿尔茨海默症) in humans, may meow due to becoming confused or disoriented, so we encourage you to schedule an appointment with us if your senior cat seems confused or is meowing more than usual.

Purring

While cats do purr as a sign of contentment, they also do it as a self-comforting mechanism when sick, stressed or injured. If your cat is purring but also showing signs that something may be wrong, like hiding more than usual or refusing food/water, they could be sick or in pain.

Tail Posture

If they hold their tail straight up and have relaxed fur, they’re likely to feel happy or curious. But if their fur stands on end while their tail is straight, this indicates fear or anger. Holding the tail low or hidden between the legs indicates insecurity, and a tail that’s rapidly twitching back and forth suggests anxiety.

Rubbing

When your cat rubs against your legs or gives you head butts, they are telling you that they love you. That is not the only thing they are doing, though! Cats rub their bodies and cheeks against people and objects to mark their territory and to claim humans, other cats, and various objects as their own.

The dogsled (狗拉雪橇) race was about to begin. Julie’s team of dogs was lined up at the sating gate. Julie stood behind them. The air was so cold that she could see her breath. The other teams were lined up, too, and the dogs were excited. Julie kept her eyes on the clock. At exactly ten o'clock, she and the other racers shouted, “Mush!” The dogs knew that meant “Go!” They jumped forward and the race began!

Julie had trained months for this race, and she hopes she and her dogs would win. Hour after hour, day after day, Julie’s dogs pulled the sled in order to get in shape for the race.

Now, they ran over snowy hills and down into frozen valleys. They stopped only to rest and eat. They wanted to stay ahead of other teams. The racers got them to go a thousand miles across Alaska. The dogs, thick fur coats helped keep them warm in the cold winds and weather. In many places along the way, the snow was deep. Pieces of ice were as sharp as a knife. The ice could cut the dogs’ feet. To keep that from happening, Julie had put special booties (短靴) on their feet.

At first, the dogs seemed to pull the sled very slowly. They were still getting used to the race.

When they finally reached the finish line, they found out that they had come in first place! It was a great day for Julie and her dogs.