Autumn means different things to different people. It all depends on your person

 Autumn means different things to different people. It all depends onyour personality, said British naturalist Richard Mabey. "Personalityshapes your view of the season," he said. "You may see it as a fadingaway, a packing up（结束）, or as a time of packing in another sense – the excited gathering ofresources before a long journey."

If this is true,perhaps it tells us a little about, for instance, Thomas Hood, the 19th CenturyEnglish poet. About November, he wrote:

No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease

Noshade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees

November!

On the otherhand, 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 theEnglish language, To Autumn. He wrote to a friend afterwards that there wassomething comforting and healing about it.

According toRichard Mabey, Keats has the biological evidence on his side. Autumn is not atime of slowing down, but a time of new beginnings and great movements ofcreatures. For example, just at the moment that Keats's "gatheringswallows" （inTo Autumn） aredeparting for Africa, millions of creatures are fleeing from the frozen northlike Iceland, Greenland and Russia to winter along the east and south coasts ofBritain. According to scientists, before falling, the leaves transfer theirchlorophyll（叶绿素）and carbohydrates into the woody parts of the tree for safe-keeping overwinter. What remains are the natural antioxidants（防老剂） in the leaves: the yellow and orangecarotenoids（类胡萝卜素）,and another protective chemical specially produced for autumn, the bright-redanthocyanin（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 afterKeats, the American poet Loren Eiseley wrote in his journal: "Suppose wesaw ourselves burning like maples in a golden autumn. [And that we could]disintegrate（瓦解）like autumn leaves…droppingtheir substance like chlorophyll. Would not our attitude towards death bedifferent?"

1.From Thomas Hood’s poem, we may inferthat _______.

         A．he suffered a lot from coldNovember

         B．he missed the shining summerdays very much

         C．he had a negative attitudetowards autumn

         D．he enjoyed butterflies and beesvery much

2.Which word can best describe LorenEiseley’s attitude towards autumn?

         A．Optimistic.             B．Fearful.                   C．Doubtful.                 D．Realistic.

3.In autumn, leaves turn yellow beforefalling because ______.

         A．they can’t bear the freezing

         B．they can’t get enough waterfrom the wood part

         C．chlorophyll and carbohydrateshave been lost through leaves

         D．chlorophyll and carbohydrateshave come back to the wood part

4.What does the underlined sentence mean?

         A．Man can never live long, justas leaves must leave the tree annually.

         B．Man is different from autumnleaves, 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 positiveattitude towards death, quite different from autumn leaves.

试题答案

【答案】

1.C

2.A

3.D

4.C

【解析】略