Most of us spend our lives seeking the natural world. We go fishing, sit in the garden, have a picnic, live in the suburbs or go to the seaside. The most popular leisure activity in Britain is going for a walk. When joggers jog, they don't run the streets. Every one of them tend to go to the park or the river.

    But despite this, our children are growing up nature­deprived(剥夺). I spent my boyhood climbing trees. These days, children are robbed of these ancient freedoms, due to problems like crime, traffic, the loss of the open spaces and strange new ideas about what is best for children, that is to say, things that can be bought, rather than things that can be found.

    The truth is to be found elsewhere. A study in the US: families had moved to better housing and the children were assessed for ADHD—attention deficit hyperactivity disorder(多动症). Those whose accommodation had more natural views showed an improvement of 19%; those who had the same improvement in material surroundings but no nice view improved just 4%.

    ADHD is one of the great problems of modern childhood. One study after another indicates that contact with nature gives huge benefits to ADHD children. However, we spend money on drugs rather than on green places.

    The life of old people is measurably better when they have access to nature. The increasing concern for the growing population of old people is in quality rather than quantity of years. And study after study finds that a garden is the single most important thing in finding that quality. Even problems with crime and aggressive behaviour are reduced when there is contact with the natural world.

    We need the wild world. It is essential to our well­being, our health and our happiness.

    If you have a chance to go to Finland, you will probably be surprised to find how “foolish” the Finnish people are.

    Take the taxi drivers for example. Taxis in Finland are mostly high-class Benz with a fare of two US dollars a kilometer. You can go anywhere in one, tell the driver to drop you at any place, say that you have some business to attend to, and then walk off without paying your fare. The driver would not show the least sign of anxiety.

    The dining rooms in all big hotels not only serve their guests, but also serve outside diners. Hotel guests have their meals free, so they naturally go to the free dining rooms to have their meals. The most they would do to show their good faith is to wave their registration card to the waiter. With such a loose check, you can easily use any old registration card to take a couple of friends to dine free of charge.

    The Finnish workers are paid by the hour. They are very much on their own as soon as they have agreed with the boss on the pay. From then on, they just say how many hours they have worked and they will be paid accordingly.

    With so many loopholes (漏洞) in everyday life, surely Finland must be a heaven to those who love to take “petty advantages”. But the strange thing is, all the taxi passengers would always come back to pay their fare after they have attended to their business; not a single outsider has ever been found in the free hotel dining rooms. And workers always give an honest account of the exact hours they put in. As the Finns always act on good faith in everything they do, living in such a society has turned everyone into a real “gentleman”.

    In a society of such high moral practice, what need is there for people to be on guard against others?

    When my son, Bob, was in the third grade, he saved all his pocket money for over three months to buy Christmas presents. The third Saturday in December, Bob said he had made his list and had twenty dollars in his pocket.

    I drove him to a nearby supermarket. Bob picked up a basket and went in while I waited and watched in the car. It took Bob over 45 minutes to choose his presents. Finally he came to the checkout counter and reached into his pocket for his money. It was not there! There was a hole in his pocket, but no money. Bob stood there holding his basket, tears falling down his face.

    Then a surprising thing happened. A woman came up to Bob and took him in her arms. "You would help me a lot if you let me pay for you," said the woman. "It would be the most wonderful gift you could give me. I only ask that one day you will pass it on. When you grow up, I would like you to find someone you can help. When you help others, I know you will feel as good about it as I do now."

    Bob took the money, dried his tears and ran back to the checkout counter as fast as he could. That year we all enjoyed our gifts almost as much as Bob enjoyed giving them to us.

    I would like to say "thank you" to that very kind woman, and tell her that four years later, Bob went from house to house collecting blankets and clothes for the homeless people in the fire. And I want to promise her that Bob will never forget to keep passing it on.

    We know that many animals do not stay in one place. Birds, fish and other animals move from one place to another at a certain time. They move for different reasons: most of them move to find food more easily, but others move to get away from places that are too crowded.

    When cold weather comes, many birds move to warmer places to find food. Some fishes give birth in warm water and move to cold water to feed. The most famous migration(迁移) is probably the migration of the fish, which is called “salmon”. This fish is born in fresh water but it travels many miles to salt water. There it spends its life. When it is old, it returns to its birthplace in fresh water. Then it gives birth and dies there. In northern Europe, there is a kind of mouse. They leave their mountain homes when they become too crowded. They move down to the low land. Sometimes they move all the way to the seaside, and many of them are killed when they fall into the sea.

    Recently, scientists have studied the migration of a kind of lobster(龙虾). Every year, when the season of bad weather arrives, the lobster get into a long line and start to walk across the floor of the ocean. Nobody knows why they do this, and nobody knows where they go.

    So, sometimes we know why humans and animals move from one place to another, but at other times we don't. Maybe living things just like travel.

    Sam, I say to myself as I start across the bridge, you must stop these thoughts and start thinking about what to do now that you have lost your falcon（猎鹰）, Frightful.

    Life, my friend Bando once said, is meeting problems and solving them whether you are an amoeba or a space traveler. I have a problem. I have to provide my younger sister Alice and myself with meat. Fish, nuts, and vegetables, are good and necessary, but they don't provide enough fuel for the hard physical work we do. Although we have venison（鹿肉） now, I can't always count on getting it. So far this year, our venison has been only road kill from in front of Mrs. Strawberry's farm.

    I decide to take the longest way home, down the flood plain of the West Branch of Delaware to Spilkill, my own name for a fast stream, that cascades down the south face of the mountain range I'm on. I need time to think. Perhaps Alice and I should be like the early Eskimos. We should walk, camp and hunt, and when the seasons change, walk on to new food sources. But I love my tree and my mountaintop.

    Another solution would be to become farmers, like the people of the Iroquois Confederacy who once lived here. They settled in villages and planted corn and squash（南瓜）, bush beans and berries. We already grow groundnuts in the damp soil and squash in the poor land. But the Iroquois also hunted game. I can't do that anymore

    I'm back where I started from.

    Slowly climb the Spillkill. As I hop from rock to rock beneath shady basswoods and hemlocks, I hear the cry of the red﹣tailed hawk who nests on the mountain crest. I am reminded of Frightful and my heart aches. I can almost hear her call my name, Cree, cree, car-ree.

    Maybe l can get her back if l beg the man who is in charge of the peregrines（游隼） university. "But it's the law," he would say. L could write to the president of the United states and ask him to make an exception of Alice and me. That won't work. The president swore to upload the constitution（宪法） and laws of the United States when he took office.

    I climbed on. I must stop thinking about the impossible and solve the problem of what to do now. I must find a new way to provide for us. Frightful is going to be in good hands at the university and she will have young.

    I smile at the thought of little Frightfuls and lift my reluctant feet.

    When I am fat above the river,1take of my clothes and moccasins（鹿皮鞋） and bathe in a deep, clear pool until I am refreshed and thinking more clearly. Climbing up the bank, I dress and sit down. I breath deeply of the mountain air and try to solve my problem more realistically.

    The Huaqing Palace Heritage Site

    Address: At the foot of Lishan Mountain in Lintong, 30 kilometers east of Xi'an.

    Opening hours: From March to November: 7:00-18:00;

    From December to February: 7:30-18:30.

    Bus routes: 914, 915, U5, and 306.