2 . When the leaves begin to change their colors and the birds head south, we know the season is starting to change. On September 7 comes White Dew (白露), the 15th solar term (节气) of the year. It indicates (标志着) the beginning of the cool autumn. As the temperature falls, white dew is often seen on the grass and trees at night.

For w riters and poets, autumn is a difficult season to describe. It ’s the end of the summer, and therefore a little sad. The days seem to get shorter, and when you wake in the morning, t here’s mist(薄雾) and it’s cooler. Winter is just around the corner.

American writer Ernest Hemingway wrote in his book A Moveable Feast (《流动的盛宴》), “You expected to be sad in the fall. Part of you died each year when the leaves fell from the trees and their branches (枝条) were bare (光秃秃的) against the wind and the cold, wintry light. ”

But on the other hand, autumn has its good side. There are so many changes at this time of year, such as the colorful leaves and cooler nights. French w riter Albert Camus even thought autumn was a second spring,   “when every leaf is a flower.” This view is also found in the most famous autumn poem in English literature, To Autumn by John Keats. In that poem, Keats says that autumn has its own songs, just like spring.

Another theme of this season is wisdom (智慧). The arrival of autumn is thought to be similar to a person becoming mature (成熟的).

The great Irish poet W.B. Yeats used this idea in his poem The Wild Swans at Coole (《库尔的野 天鹅》), writing about the changing seasons in Coole Park in the west of Ireland. Seeing and counting 59 swans, he remembers first making the count as a young man. Seeing the swans do the same thing for all those years, he’s reminded (提醒) that even though we get older, our hearts always stay the same age.