In April 2014,the world's oldest known message in a bottle was discovered floating in theBaltic Sea. It had spent 101 years lost in the ocean!The message was finally sent to the author's granddaughter.

A German fisherman named Konrad Fischer found the brown bottle near Kiel,Germany. He said he nearly threw the bottle back into the water after pulling it out of a fishing net. Then he noticed something inside.

The bottle in good condition contained a Danish postcard with two German stamps,dated May 17,1913. Although dampness had made most of the writing illegible(字迹模糊的),thereadable part of the message asked whoever found it to return it to an address in Berlin. It even contained two stamps to pay for postage.

From the address,researchers found that the postcard was written by a man named Richard Platz,who was 20 years old when he wrote the message. While he was hiking on the Baltic coast with a nature appreciation group,he threw the bottle into the sea. Then the researchers began a search for any living relatives of his. Sure enough,they were able to find his 62-year-old granddaughter,Angela Erdmann,who still lives in Berlin.

“It was almost unbelievable,”Erdmann said upon being presented with her grandfather's bottle and message.“That was a pretty moving moment. Tears rolled down my face."

Erdmann never knew her grandfather,who died in 1946,but says that the discovery of the bottle has made her want to learn more about him.

The bottle remained on display at the International Maritime Museum in Hamburg until May 1 .After that,the researchers examined the postcard and tried to figure out the meaning of the rest of the message.

Previously,the oldest message found in a bottle spent nearly 98 years at sea and was discovered in April 2012,according to Guinness World Records.

1.When Konrad Fischer picked up the bottle from the sea,

A. he thought it would bring him good luck

B. he noticed the postcard inside immediately

C. he decided to uncover the secret of the bottle

D. he wanted to throw it back into the sea at first

2.Why did Richard Platz throw the bottle with the message into the sea?

A. He expected his granddaughter could find the postcard.

B. He wished the finder would send the postcard to his home.

C. He believed his postcard would be kept secret at sea forever.

D. He thought he could make friends with the finder of the bottle.

3.What can be the best title for this passage?

A. The finding of a floating bottle at the sea

B. A one-century-old letter to a granddaughter

C. The world's oldest message in a floating bottle

D. The oldest Danish postcard in a floating bottle

While I will explain a bit about the science of stress and relaxation a little later simple way to think about it is that our body 's stress response works like a car alarm. Keep us safe by warning us of the presence of danger in our immediate environment.

But instead of warning us with a loud and annoying sound,our body alarm system lets us know that something is wrong by creating changes in our neurochemistry (神经化学).If you've ever expe­rienced pain in your stomach,periods of extreme anger, inability to focus or even insomnia (失眠),chances are your body was paying the price in those moments for the brain chemistry of stress.

So if it's so uncomfortable,why not just get rid of stress altogether?

This is not only impractical,it would be dangerous. Let's go back to the metaphor (比喻说法)of the car alarm. If the alarm is turned off altogether,the car is exposed to continual danger without there being any way of your knowing about it until it is too late. It would be like walking through the jungle without any fear signal in the presence of a poisonous snake or other dangerous animals — while it might feel “nice” to be so relaxed,your body actually needs the stress response not only to remind you of danger but also to offer extra adrenaline (肾上腺素) for your heart and extra blood and oxygen for your arms and legs.

However,if the car alarm goes off at any time,someone just looks at the car with a bit of an attitude,and it becomes equally useless. Not only do we stop paying attention to it,but it begins to drive us and everyone around us becomes a little bit crazy. In the case of our bodies,walking around in a constant state of alarm also has some pretty alarming health consequences,which we will explore in greater depth in the next chapter.

1.Our body's stress response is compared to a car alarm in that .

A. they work all the time B. they both give a signal

C. they work in the same way D. they both produce a sound

2.When our body alarm system works, .

A. we feel calm

B. we feel excited

B. some changes happen in our brain

D. some changes happen in our heart

3.What would happen if stress were got rid of completely?

A. We'11 be free of worries.

B. We'11 achieve a sense of safety.

C. We'11 reach a perfect state of mind.

D. We'11 fail to realize the possible danger.

4. What's the purpose of giving the example of walking through the Jungle in Paragraph 4?

A. To show the harm of stress.

B. To show the effect of stress.

C. To explain the function of stress response.

D. To explain the necessity of stress response.

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