http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2011/01/08/2003492995/1
Summarize
Five thousand blackbirds rained from the sky, Then more dead birds fell in other states.Then huge fish kills were discovered,suddenly it became a worldwide phenomenon.
Conspiracy theorists, doomsayers and religious extremists warned that the end was nigh.(USGS) National Wildlife Health Center. “There is nothing apocalyptic or anything that is necessarily out of the ordinary for what we would see in any given week.”
“Natural causes appear to be the reason for the deaths of the fish,” a statement by the Maryland Department of the Environment said.
“Spot may have difficulty surviving in colder temperatures and the species’ susceptibility to winter kills is well-documented,” it said, noting that surface water temperatures last month were the coldest in 25 years.
As for the bird and fish deaths elsewhere in the world, many were still under investigation.
But in today’s Internet Age, when hardly anything remains secret, word of mass bird deaths has spread with unparalleled speed.
“Now some of these kinds of stories, because they get out there on the Internet, if they are compelling enough they can immediately make this jump to national news,” he said. “Let’s face it, big quantities of birds falling from the sky or fish going belly-up is a pretty compelling story.”
Opinion
Birds and fishes die-off, attached people’s eyes. Someone says the end was night and those phenomena are the symbo of apocalyptic. Another says, it’s because of the weather changes and pollution. And the other says it happened before, just because the internet, the world become small and any compelling story can be shared easily.
Vocabulary
spate off /speɪt/ DJ 
a large number of things, which are usually unpleasant, that happen suddenly within a short period of time 一連串，接二連三（通常指不愉快的事物）
immune /ɪˈmjuːn/ DJ
that cannot catch or be affected by a particular disease or illness 有免疫力
conspiracy /kənˈspɪrəsi/ DJ
a secret plan by a group of people to do something harmful or illegal 密謀策劃；陰謀
doomsayer - One who makes dire predictions about the future
the end was nigh 到底是近了
apocalyptic /əˌpɒkəˈlɪptɪk/ DJ
-
adjective
-
describing very serious damage and destruction in past or future events 描述（歷史）大動亂的；預示（未來）大災變的
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like the end of the world 似末世的；像世界末日的
compelling /kəmˈpelɪŋ/ DJ
adjective
-
that makes you pay attention to it because it is so interesting and exciting 引人入勝的；扣人心弦的 written
/ʌn'pærəˈlɛld/ KK used to emphasize that something is bigger, better or worse than anything else like it 無比的；無雙的；空前的；絕無僅有的 adjective formal
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Article
END ISN’T NIGH:Despite the conclusions many may be jumping to, wildlife experts say the recent spate of mass animal die-offs aren’t unusual, merely well publicized
AFP, WASHINGTON
Five thousand dead blackbirds rained from the sky on the first day of the New Year in Arkansas. Then more dead birds fell in other states. Then huge fish kills were discovered in multiple US waterways.
And suddenly it became a worldwide phenomenon, with reports of mass die-offs of birds and fish in Sweden, Britain, Japan, Thailand, Brazil and beyond.
Doves, jellyfish, snapper, jackdaws ... it seemed no species was immune.
Conspiracy theorists, doomsdayers and religious extremists warned that the end was nigh.
Could it be astronauts testing a potent sound beam to ward off aliens? The US military experimenting with satellite-powered energy weapons?
What about chemical sprays, meteor showers or earthquakes activating pollutants from the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico? “Birds” surged to the most searched term on the New York Times Web site.
Religious bloggers loaded their sites with Bible verse, Hosea 4:1-3: “The land dries up, and all who live in it waste away; the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky and the fish in the sea are swept away.”
But as speculation roiled the blogosphere, wildlife experts rolled their eyes.
“It is not that unusual,” said Kristen Schuler, a scientist at the US Geological Survey’s (USGS) National Wildlife Health Center. “There is nothing apocalyptic or anything that is necessarily out of the ordinary for what we would see in any given week.”
Indeed, the USGS keeps a log on its Web site with reports of groups of birds dying each week, averaging from dozens to thousands.
Regarding the bird deaths in Arkansas, where the local custom is to set off fireworks to mark New Year’s Eve, officials determined it was likely that the noise set off a deadly bird panic.
“It appears unusually loud noises, reported shortly before the birds began to fall, caused the birds to flush from a roost,” the USGS National Wildlife Health Center said in a statement posted on the Arkansas Fish and Game Commission Web site.
“Additional fireworks in the area may have forced the birds to fly at a lower altitude than normal and hit houses, vehicles, trees and other objects. Blackbirds have poor night vision and typically do not fly at night,” it said.
In Louisiana, Schuler said it looked like cold weather might have killed off about 500 birds.
Meanwhile, in Maryland, locals were spooked by reports of about 2 million dead fish in the Chesapeake Bay.
Officials were quick to assuage concerns, saying the deaths were a result of an unusual cold snap, combined with an overpopulation of a species known as spot fish.
“Natural causes appear to be the reason for the deaths of the fish,” a statement by the Maryland Department of the Environment said.
“Spot may have difficulty surviving in colder temperatures and the species’ susceptibility to winter kills is well-documented,” it said, noting that surface water temperatures last month were the coldest in 25 years.
As for the bird and fish deaths elsewhere in the world, many were still under investigation.
According to the National Wildlife Federation’s Doug Inkley, the most frequent cause of mass death in birds is disease, though pollution and “just plain accidents” can also trigger large scale die-offs. Often, people just are not aware of them.
“Most of the time these areas are not near human habitation such as in forests or in the woods,” he said on CNN.
But in today’s Internet Age, when hardly anything remains secret, word of mass bird deaths has spread with unparalleled speed.
“In 1960, if a bunch of birds started falling from the sky it may have been noticed by some people. It may have gotten reported in the local paper, but it may never have gotten any further than that,” said Robert Thompson, professor of pop culture at Syracuse University.
“Now some of these kinds of stories, because they get out there on the Internet, if they are compelling enough they can immediately make this jump to national news,” he said. “Let’s face it, big quantities of birds falling from the sky or fish going belly-up is a pretty compelling story.”
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