I love autumn for many different reasons, but especially because of the beautiful leaves on the trees. There is something sad about the fact that shortly after the leaves are at the height of2 their beauty, they will fall from the trees and blow away. Our leaves are at their best right now, but in another week or so they will turn brown and fall off.
Our town has many maple trees3. I love them because of their color, ranging from yellow to orange, to pink to red. The maple tree in our back yard is turning yellow, but the maples a few blocks4 away are orange. It depends on the species5 as well as the weather. According to the weather experts, our fall colors are not as brilliant6 this year as sometimes because of the unusually warm autumn we have had. There are also oak trees7 in our town. Their leaves are a deep reddish-brown or yellow, again depending on the species.
As the leaves fall, they keep property owners busy raking8 them from their yards. Don spent this morning picking up leaves with a leaf collector on his lawn tractor9. He will compost10 them and eventually11 put them on our gardens, returning minerals12 to the soil. Thus the fallen leaves are put to a good use. Since we have about fifteen trees on our property, we have plenty of leaves to compost. Many leaves from our neighbors’ trees also blow into our yard.
When I was young we used to pile up the leaves in our yard and burn them. I loved the smell of the burning leaves. However, now most cities, including ours, have laws against burning leaves in order to cut down on air pollution13. I miss the smell, and sometimes when we are in the country and smell a leaf fire on some farm property, I have good memories of my childhood and the leaf bonfires14 my father would make.
All too soon the leaves will have fallen and the trees will be bare again until next spring, excepting for those like our big pine tree15. It and other coniferous evergreens16 will provide the green we see when winter comes.
Notes:
1. foliage: the leaves of a plant or tree as produced in nature [叶子（的总称）].
2. at the height of: at a time when a situation or event is the strongest or most full of activity (处于顶峰状态).
3. maple trees: 枫树
4. blocks: 街区
5. species: the technical, scientific term for a specific type of living organism, i.e. trees, flowers, animals of all sorts from most primitive to most advanced (种类).
6. brilliant: bright in color (色彩鲜艳的).
7. oak trees: a large group of types of trees of the genus Quercus which are part of the major forests of the U.S. and which occur in both Asia and Europe as well (橡树，栎属树中的最大的一支，是美国森林主要的组成部分，也生长于亚洲和欧洲).
8. raking: 耙
9. lawn tractor: a mechanized small, gasoline powered machine which is used to mow lawns and to collect debris like grass clippings or leaves from the lawn (草地拖拉机，一种小型的用汽油驱动的机械，用于修草坪、收集割下来的碎草或树叶。).
10. compost：把……变成堆肥
11. eventually: finally, at the final stage of a process or task (最终).
12. minerals：矿物质
13. air pollution：空气污染
14. bonfires：篝火，营火
15. pine tree: 松树
16. coniferous evergreens：长绿针叶树