Autumn means different things to different people. It all depends on your personality, said British naturalist Richard Mabey. "Personality shapes your view of the season," he said. "You may see it as a fading away, a packing up（结束）, or as a time of packing in another sense – the excited gathering of resources before a long journey."
If this is true, perhaps it tells us a little about, for instance, Thomas Hood, the 19th Century English poet. About November, he wrote:
No warmth, no c
heerfulness, no healthful ease
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees
November!
On the other hand, another English poet John Keats, already sensing he was seriously ill, was inspired by a late September day to pen one of the most famous poems in the English language, To Autumn. He wrote to a friend afterwards that there was something comforting and healing about it.
According to Richard
Mabey, Keats has the biological evidence on his side. Autumn is not a time of slowing down, but a time of new beginnings and great movements of creatures. For example, just at the moment that Keats's "gathering swallows" （in To Autumn） are departing for Africa, millions of creatures are fleeing from the frozen north like Iceland, Greenland and Russia to winter along the east and south coasts of Britain. According to scientists, before falling, the leaves transfer their chlorophyll（叶绿素） and carbohydrates into the woody parts of the tree for safe-keeping over winter. What remains are the natural antioxidants（防老剂） in the leaves: the yellow and orange carotenoids（类胡萝卜素）, and another protective chemical specially produced for autumn, the bright-red anthocyanin（花青素）. High color is not a signal of deterioration（退化） and decline, but of detox（排毒的） ability and good health.
A century after Keats, the American poet Loren Eiseley wrote in his journal: "Suppose we saw ourselves burning like maples in a golden autumn. [And that we could] di
sintegrate（瓦解） like autumn leaves…dropping their substance like chlorophyll. Would not our attitude towards death be different?"
小题1:From Thomas Hood’s poem, we may infer that _______.
| A．he suffered a lot from cold November |
| B．he missed the shining summer days very much |
| C．he had a negative attitude towards autumn |
| D．he enjoyed butterflies and bees very much |
小题2:Which word can best describe Loren Eiseley’s attitude towards autumn?
| A．Optimistic. | B．Fearful. | C．Doubtful. | D．Realistic. |
小题3:In autumn, leaves turn yellow before falling because ______.
| A．they can’t bear the freezing |
| B．they can’t get enough water from the wood part |
| C．chlorophyll and carbohydrates have been lost through leaves |
| D．chlorophyll and carbohydrates have come back to the wood part |
小题4:What does the underlined sentence mean?
| A．Man can never live long, just as leaves must leave the tree annually. |
| B．Man is different from autumn leaves, which will come again the next spring. |
| C．Man should treat death calmly, just like autumn leaves fall to the ground. |
| D．Man should have a positive attitude towards death, quite different from autumn leaves. |
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