1819年春的一天,一位新近到达美国荒地边缘的河畔城镇圣路易的英国人——18岁的享利·肖(Henry Shaw)出城骑马旅行了半天。他向西穿过沼泽地、经过污水坑和印第安人的墓堆,最后扒开灌木丛来到了一个狭窄的地带,并且发现自己在高坡上腑瞰到一片茫茫草原。“未开发的土地,”他记载着,“没有成片的树木,只有覆盖着的高而茂密的青草在春风的轻拂下波浪起伏。”如果有人爱上了这片土地的话,他就是肖。肖的财产增加后,他一心要回送份厚礼给收养他的城 One day in the spring of 1819, Henry Shaw, 18, a Briton who had recently arrived in the riverside town of St. Louis on the edge of the American wasteland, spent half a day riding out of town. He crossed the swamp westward, past the sumps and Indian burial mounds, and finally took the shrubbery to a narrow strip and found himself overlooking a vast grassland on a high slope. “Untapped land,” he records, “no piece of trees, only covered with high and dense grass under the spring breeze waves.” If someone fell in love with the land, he is Xiao . As Xiao’s possessions increased, he bent on sending copies of his gift to the city that adopted him