The res
earch carried out by the University of Bad in Italy could help prove hospitals who are accused of wasting money on art and decoration as it suggests a pleasant environment helps patients ease discomfort and pain.
A team headed by Professor Marina de Tommaso at the Neurophysiopathology
Pain Unit asked a group of men and women to pick the 20 paintings they considered
most ugly and most beautiful from a selection of 300 works by artists such as
Leonardo da Vinci and Sandro Botticelli. They were then asked to look at either the beautiful paintings, or the ugly pa
inting, or a blank panel while the team zapped(照射) a short laser pulse at their hand, creating a sensation as if they had been stuck by a pin. The subjects rated the pa
in as being a third less intense while they were
viewing the beautiful paintings, compared with when looking at the ugly paintings
or the blank panel. Electrodes measuring the brain's electrical activity also confirmed a reduced resoonse to the pain when the subject looked at beautiful paintings.
While distractions, such as music, are known to reduce pain in hospital patients,Prof de Tommaso says this is the first result to show that beauty plays a part.
The findings, reported in New Scientist, also 
go a long way to show that
beaufiful surroundings could aid the healing process.
"Hospitals have been designed to be functional, but we think that their artistic aspects should be taken into account too," said the neurologist."Beauty boyiously offers a distraction that ugly paintings do not. But at least there is no suggestion that ugly surroundings make the pain worse. I think these results show that more research is needed into the field how a beautiful environment can alleviate suffering."
Pictures they liked included Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh and Botticellis Birth of Venus. Pictures they found ugly included works by pablo Picasso
, the Italian 20th century artist Anonio Bueno and Columbian Fernando Botero." These people were not art experts so some of the pictures they found ugly would be considered masterpieces by the art world," said Prof de Tommaso.
小题1:The underlined word "alleviate" in the fifth paragraph probably means"______".
A．cure
B．ease
C．improve
D．kill小题2:How many artists have been mentioned in the passage?
A．4.
B．5.
C．6.
D．7.小题3: Which of the following is TURE about the view of Prof de T
ommaso's?
A．Beautiful surroundings could help to heal sufferings completely.
B．Hospitals must take their artistic aspects into consideration first.
C．Ugly surroundings will surely make the pain worse.
D．Both music and beauty can reduce pain in hospital patients.小题4:From the last paragraph, we know that_______.
A．some artists' paintings were beautiful, so they were masterpieces
B．only art experts could judge they were masterpieces or not, though ugly
C．the artists mentioned above were not really art masters.
D．som
e of them were art masters, while others were not.小题5:Which of the following is the suitable title for the passage?
A．Beautiful surroundings can ease pain.
B．Ugly paintings could be masterpieces.
C．More research should be done in he field.
D．Latest environmental research.
