ST_011

綜合寫作

On a recent New Year's Day, residents of a North American town awoke to discover that thousands of birds had died the night before and that their bodies were lying in open spaces and in the roads. The dead birds had apparently fallen out of the sky during the night. Some people suggested that fireworks in celebration of the New Year were responsible for the birds' deaths. According to this theory, the loud sounds of the fireworks had awakened the birds; the startled birds began flying in the dark, striking buildings, power lines, and trees. The fireworks theory was supported by several observations.

First, the timing of the birds’ deaths seemed to be connected to the fireworks. The fireworks were set off just before midnight, and some people reported seeing birds falling from the sky right at midnight.

Second, examination of the birds’ bodies indicated a possible cause of the deaths. The examination did not find any evidence that the birds had been poisoned or that they had suffered from a disease. Instead, all the birds appeared to have died from injuries caused by impact, indicating the birds hit something at great speed. Such injuries would have occurred, if, as proposed, the startled birds had flown into buildings, power lines, or trees.

Finally, most of the dead birds were the same species, red-winged blackbirds. These birds have poor night vision and generally avoid flying at night. Red-winged blackbirds would be particularly vulnerable to striking unseen objects in the dark. And since any night flying by redwinged blackbirds is extremely rare, only an unusual event, like the fireworks, would cause so many of these birds to take to the air at the same time.

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