New discoveries suggest that trade between Europe and Asia along the Silk Road probably began many centuries earlier than once thought. The findings add a fascinating new page to the epic(史诗) of the Silk Road, which spread far and wide in no time.
The latest and most surprising discovery is pieces of silk found in the hair of an Egyptian mummy(木乃伊) from about l,000 BC, long before regular traffic on the Silk Road and at least one thousand years before silk was previously thought to be used in Egypt. Other researches may extend human activity along this road back even further, perhaps a million years to the moving of human ancestors into eastern Asia.
The official origin of East-West trade along the road is usually placed in the late 2nd century BC when an agent of the Chinese Emperor Wu-di returned from a dangerous secret task across the desert into the remote high country of Central Asia. The agent, Zhang Qian, traveled as far as Afghanistan and brought back knowledge of even more distant lands such as Persia, Syria and a place known as Lijien, perhaps Rome. Historians(历史学家) have called this one of the most important journeys in ancient times. His journey opened the way for what have been thought to be the first indirect touches between the ancient world’s two super-powers, China and Rome. Chinese silk, first traded to Central Asia for war horses, was soon finding its way to the markets of Rome through a network of businessmen.
But the new discoveries show that Chinese silk apparently existed in the West long before the Han emperor started to organize trade over the Silk Road. The research could change thinking about the early history of world trade and provide comprehension into the mystery(谜) of just how and when Europe first realized the glorious culture at the other end of Eurasia.
| Title: New Discovery of the Silk Road | |
| Introduction | New findings about the |
| Discovery | ☆The silk thread found in the hair of an Egyptian mummy from about 1,000 BC makes all feel greatly ☆The discovery suggests the trade along the Silk Road may |
| Zhang Qian’s | ☆Being accepted as official ☆Opening the way for the first ☆ ☆Making Chinese silk |
| Summary | ☆Show the ☆Change thinking about the early history of word trade. ☆Help to solve the puzzle of Europeans’ first realizing |
“HELL is a city much like London,” said Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1819. Modern academics agree. Last year Dutch researchers showed that city dwellers (居民) have a 21% higher risk of suffering from anxiety disorders than do their calmer rural countrymen, and a 39% higher risk of suffering from mood disorders. But exactly how the inner workings of the urban and rural minds cause this difference has remained unclear—until now. A study just published in Nature by Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg of the University of Heidelberg and his colleagues has used a scanning technique called functional magnetic-resonance imaging (机能性磁共振成像，简称fMRI) to examine the brains of city dwellers and countrymen when they are under stress.
In Dr Meyer-Lindenberg’s first experiment, participants lying with their heads in a scanner took maths tests that they were bound to fail (the researchers had designed success rates to be just 25-40%). To make the experience still more embarrassing, the team provided negative feedback through headphones, all the while checking participants for indications of stress, such as high blood pressure.
The city people’s general mental health did not differ from that of the rural countrymen. However, their brains dealt with the stress caused by the experimenters in different ways. These differences were noticeable in two regions: the amygdalas (杏仁核) and the perigenual anterior cingulate cortex (前扣带皮层，简称pACC).
People living in the countryside had the lowest levels of activity in their amygdalas. Those living in towns had higher levels. City dwellers had the highest. In the case of the pACC, however, what mattered was not where someone was living now, but where he or she was brought up. The more urban a person’s childhood, the more active his pACC, regardless of where he was dwelling at the time of the experiment.
The amygdalas thus seem to respond to the here-and-now while the pACC is programmed early on, and does not react in the same, flexible way as the amygdalas. Second-to-second changes in its activity might, though, be expected to be connected with changes in the amygdalas, because of its role in regulating them. fMRI allows such connections to be measured.
In the cases of those brought up in the countryside, regardless of where they now live, the connections were as expected. For those brought up in cities, however, these connections broke down. The regulatory mechanism of the native urbanite, in other words, seems to be out of order.
Dr Meyer-Lindenberg and his team conducted several more experiments to check their findings. They asked participants to complete more maths tests—and also tests in which they were mentally ups and downs—while investigators scolded them about their performance. The results matched those of the first test. They also studied another group of volunteers, who were given stress-free tasks to complete. These experiments showed no activity in either the amygdalas or the pACC, suggesting that the earlier results were indeed the result of social stress rather than mental effort.
As is usually the case in studies of this sort, the sample size was small and the result showed an association, rather than a definite, causal relationship. That association is, nevertheless, interesting. Living in cities brings many benefits, but Dr Meyer-Lindenberg’s work suggests that Shelley and his fellow Romantics had at least half a point.
Title: Do urban brains behave differently from rural ones?
Purpose of the research | The research was conducted to explain why city dwellers are more likely to | |
Process of the research | Design of the research | The researchers made the participants take difficult maths tests and provided negative feedback, which served as the source of Meanwhile the researchers scanned their brains and got indications by a scanning technique called fMRI . |
Findings of the research | The activity level in the amygdalas is highest in city dwellers, The activity level of a person’s pACC, regulating the amygdalas, is The association between the amygdalas and the pACC depends on a person’s living | |
Several more experiments were carried out with | ||
Conclusion of the research | It is the social stress rather than mental effort that leads to mental disorders, so living in cities also brings some | |
The worst time to look for a job is when you must have a new one immediately. Job Searching under pressure often results in nervous interviewing and decision-making from rela-tively few options. If you are not in need of an immediate career change, here are ways you can improve your long-term career prospects （前景） today:
Identify at least two different roles. You do not have to be qualified for these positions today, nor do they have to exist in your company. However, these roles should be related to your current skill set. They are career options that look interesting. Once you have a couple of targets, think about why and what interests you. Pay close attention to what appeals to you, and write it down. This will give insight into your motivations and targets.
Subscribe to a career specific magazine. Knowledge is power in the workplace. All busi-nesses must stay relevant to their customers in order to win the competitions and increase revenue（收益）.Reading about industry trends, advancements and success stories keeps you in touch with market conditions. This information allows you to see which companies and professionals are leading the peck. You can follow their examples in your own workplace. If you associate with those that stand out from the rest, you are likely to find yourself with better opportunities.
Do exceptional work. In any role, there is a way to perform at your best. Look for ways to deliver a top performance. Show up early, be flexible to new assignments, have a positive attitude, cooperate with other departments, pay attention to the little details.
Be professionally curious. Talk to people about their careers. Learn more about how success is measured in other roles, departments and companies. Ask people their thoughts on different industries. Challenge yourself to expand your business knowledge through interactions with people at regular time. People hire people. You never know what connections may be relevant when you start your next job search, so develop a habit of making good connections no matter where you go. Take the time to learn about others, and be helpful when you can.
As in all things in life, getting in front of a difficult task early is always less stressful than reacting to a career surprise. Changing jobs is to be expected. No matter how secure you feel today, the time will come when either you or your employer decide it is time to change.
| How to Improve Your Carter Prospects | ||
| Passage outline | Supporting details | |
| Problem | ♦Job searching under pressure | |
| Ways to improve your career prospects | Identify at least two different roles | ♦The roles are supposed to have ♦Pay close attention to those things that make you |
| Subscribe to a magazine on carter | ♦The relevant knowledge in the workplace can make you ♦Follow the examples in your field, making it | |
| Do exceptional work | ♦ Try your best to perform at your best. ♦ Work early to finish new tasks with a flexible and positive attitude. ♦ Cooperate with other departments Without | |
| Be professionally curious | ♦ Talk about people’s careers and learn how people ♦ Widen your business knowledge by interacting with people ♦ Develop a Habit of connecting well wherever you go. | |
| Conclusion | Facing hard tasks early can help reduce your ♦ Changing jobs may be | |
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