1 . The woods are turning orange. Drifts of dry leaves are growing on forest floors and flying into street corners. From a distance, it is beautiful. But the air is still warm and summery. This turning and leaf fall is not the usual gradual preparation for winter in temperate zones (温带) but a stress response by trees trying to preserve water. We are now in a false autumn, caused by heat and drought. And it feels wrong.
There is, therefore, something deeply disturbing about such a graphic alteration of familiar rhythms. Droughts are not unknown to the UK, of course, and too many parts of the world are certainly familiar with far more severe versions. But increasingly they are occurring in the context of a climate emergency, and record-breaking heat. And the beauty of a false autumn, specifically, has an emotional effect, a deep weirdness, something mysteriously suggestive of evil or danger.
Cultures across the world contain ceremonies for the propitiation (宽恕) of the weather; a sense of responsibility for the natural world- and the belief that it will punish us if we fail it—is as old as humanity. One of the reasons why the Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s 1798 poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is so effective is the directness with which it links the shooting of an albatross (信天翁)—the destruction of innocent wildlife—to a terrible change in the weather: no rain, just burning, death-dealing sun. We may not understand the mechanism, but at an instinctual (本能的) level it feels right.
And in a similar way it has not really been a surprise to hear that birds are struggling. In London, young swifts (雨燕) were seen falling out of the sky. Fewer—and too early—nuts and berries mean some animals will not live through this winter. Older trees, with their longer roots, will hopefully survive, but young trees may not—all that promises further warming. There will always be a degree of uncertainty about the causes of specific weather events, but we cannot deny that we have not taken care of the albatross. Now we must hope we are doing enough to make sure that these fearful golden days can be an autumn of autumns.
1. According to the passage, what is a disturbing sign of “a false autumn”?| A．Tree leaves are turning orange and fall gradually in winter. |
| B．Birds are struggling to fall out of the sky in London. |
| C．People worldwide are careless of droughts and heat in the UK. |
| D．Nuts and berries ripen earlier but yield less than before. |
| A．Because people across the world sympathize with the albatross. |
| B．Because it directly links destruction of wildlife to extreme weather. |
| C．Because we are certain about how the weather shifts instinctually. |
| D．Because he is an established Romantic poet curious about nature. |
| A．Optimistic. | B．Concerned. | C．Humorous. | D．Ironic (讽刺的). |
