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：

　　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] disintegrate(瓦解)like autumn leaves…dropping their substance like chlorophyll．Would not our attitude towards death be different?"

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