The Autumnal Palette of Colour
Questa è senza dubbio la mia stagione preferita. Sì, adoro anche l’inverno, con la neve, il Natale, le tombolate attorno al camino, la cioccolata calda, il plaid… Ma l’autunno, con questi suoi colori splendidi, è davvero una stagione magica.
E anche se spesso i miei amici italiani mi prendono per stramba, perché nel Paese d’o sole e d’o mare è quasi impossibile trovare qualcuno che, come me, non impazzisca per l’estate, non sono l’unica a subire il fascino di questo periodo dell’anno.
Di video sull’autunno in rete se ne trovano in quantità. Ho scelto questo perché è stato girato ad Attingham Park, un parco bellissimo che si trova non lontano dal confine con il Galles e che in questa stagione diventa ancor più spettacolare.
“Burnished gold and russet red. This year’s autumnal palette of colour is spectacular, and you lot are being getting some great snaps of it. It’s a time when places like Attingham Park in Shrewsbury really come alive.
«Autumn is quite special as you come to the kind of colder months and you’ve got that last kind of air booth, the yellowy light. It’s just amazing.»
And it’s bringing in the visitors.
«All the colours of the leaves are very beautiful and I like kicking them a lot.»
«Wow. I think it’s the prettiest time of year because all the leaves are changing.»
«I really like running through the brown leaves.»
So lots of people enjoying the autumn scenery this year. But what makes our leaves change colour? Well, it’s actually pretty clever.
«They are all colours at the beginning and they go orange and brown because the green colour, the chlorophyll, is taken back inside the tree to save the nutrients for the next spring.»
So why such a spectacular display this year?
«It’s the weather earlier in the season. So, does the tree manage to get enough water and enough light in order to make enough sugars, so it’s got a lot of resources? If it gets too cold, if it freezes for example, then the machinery that would pull the green colour, the chlorophyll, back, doesn’t work and they would stay green for longer.»
The trees are already preparing for winter, so catch this autumn showcase while you can.”
Sentito cosa ci dicono, a proposito dell’autunno, i bambini del video?
– “All the colours of the leaves are very beautiful and I like kicking them a lot”
– “Wow. I think it’s the prettiest time of year because all the leaves are changing”
– “I really like running through the brown leaves”.
C’è chi ama correre tra le foglie marroni, chi le foglie adora prenderle a calci e chi pensa che l’autunno sia la stagione più bella dell’anno perché le foglie cambiano colore.
Già. Le foglie. Come mai assumono questi colori straordinari in autunno?
Leaves are all colours at the beginning and they go orange and brown in autumn because the green colour, the chlorophyll, is taken back inside the tree to save the nutrients for the next spring. So the leaves change colour and the colours they take on depend on the weather earlier on in the season, particularly on the water and light the trees manage to get to make enough sugars so they have a lot of resources to last the winter. If the weather is too cold, if it freezes, the machinery that pulls the green colour, the chlorophyll, back inside the tree doesn’t work and the leaves stay green for longer.
So autumn is the time when trees take all the resources they can from their leaves, which gradually become gold, red, yellow, orange, purple and brown, the autumnal palette of colour. When their leaves are no longer useful, the trees shed them and the leaves start to fall.
Questa locandina realizzata dalla Commissione forestale inglese ci dà una spiegazione un po’ più scientifica del fenomeno.
Ma tornando a quanto ci dicono i bambini del video, avete notato che in inglese “like” regge il gerundio, la cosiddetta “–ing form” (forma base del verbo + ing)?
Es. I like kicking the leaves a lot
Es. I really like running through the brown leaves
Questa regola, che in realtà riguarda tutti i verbi di sentimento, merita di essere approfondita e ci torneremo di sicuro più avanti, so watch this space!
Nel frattempo, sono curiosa di saperlo: what is your favourite season? Let me know! Bye for now, j
