马鞍山市2014高考英语阅读理解、动词短语精讲讲练（24）及答案
A
No one knows where the phrase “Indian summer” got started. We are sure that the phrase was well－known by the year 17 78, because Crevecoeur, an American writer, described it like this: “A hard frost(霜冻)follows the autumn rains. This prepares the ground to receive the snows of winter. But before the snows come, the earth turns warm once again and there are a few days of smoke and mildness called Indian summer.”
There is a story about Indian summer that goes back to the very first settlers of the New World. The first frost meant winter was coming. Snow would soon follow.
The Indians, seeing the settlers preparing for winter, told them not to hurry. The weather would turn warm, mild breezes would blow and the sky would turn soft and smoky. And so it did. The sun became hotter, and a bright warm smoke flowed over the fields and woods. The settlers, remembering the words of the Indians, called this wonderful period Indian summer.
