TEXT A The ivory-billed woodpecker, if you haven’ t heard, is no longer extinct. In late spring, a group of 17 researchers announced in the online version of Science that they had spotted at least one member of this majestic species living in the cypress and tupelo swamps of eastern Arkansas. Once found everywhere in Southern hardwood forests, the ivory-billed woodpecker tumbled in population after the turn of the century, the victim of avid collectors and logging. It had last been seen in 1944, reduced to what Tim Gallagher, author of "The Grail Bird: Hot on the Trail of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker," calls "a symbol of everything that has gone wrong with our relationship to the environment." "The Grail Bird" is the story of this remarkable rediscovery, told by one of the chief rediscoverers. The editor of Living Bird magazine, Gallagher began the book several years ago with milder ambitions. The plan was to interview anyone who had seen the bird -- or thought he or she had. Soon, though, he was swept into a web of tantalizing rumors and half-clues, propelled by the possibility that a living ivory-bill might yet be found. "If someone……could prove that this remarkable species still exists, it would be the most hopeful event imaginable: we would have one final chance to get it right, to save this bird and the bottomland swamp forests it needs to urvive." Hope was a thing with a three-foot wingspan. "The Grail Bird" is less an ecological study than a portrait of human obsession; if not for the outcome, it could as easily be a book about the hunt for Bigfoot. Gallagher stakes out swamps teeming with alligators and cottonmouths. He sifts through shady evidence, from fuzzy Instamatic photographs to bags of bark shavings -- peeled, possibly, by the ivory-billed woodpecker in its search for beetle grubs. He suffers bloodied feet and an infected knee. His closest companion, Bobby Ray Harrison, a wildlife photographer and an arts professor at Oakwood College, dresses in full camouflage gear and canoes with a camcorder attached to his helmet. Sasquatch chasers," Gallagher’ s wife calls them. Yet for all the shenanigans, his book is an insightful look at what most biological fieldwork involves: a lot of sweating, sitting and waiting for ghosts to -- maybe -- make themselves real. As tales go, "The Grail Bird" isn’t the most stylishly told. Gallagher lets his characters talk at too-great length, and the incidental details are sometimes overly incidental. ("After pigging out on bad burgers, we got a room at a cheap motel and quickly fell into a deep, exhausted sleep with lots of snoring.") But most readers probably won’ t mind. As some rivers are to be enjoyed not for the quality of the water but for the quality of the stones to be found therein, so it is with some books. Gallagher presents a series of lively characters: Fielding Lewis, a former Louisiana state boxing commissioner who in 1971 took two fuzzy photographs of the wood pecker that were subsequently -- and perhaps mistakenly -- discredited; an anonymous "woodpecker whisperer" who claims to have a telepathic connection to the birds, even a thousand miles away. (One group of searchers failed, they were told, because they were noisily scaring off the bird.) Oddly missing from this recounting is any extended focus on the ivory-billed woodpecker itself. Granted, the bird has been invisible for decades, a presence notable largely for its absence. Still, the book might have given us the animal’ s history in more detail -- something to convey the visceral appeal of this "grail." Without that, the quest -- though triumphant -- at times feels hollow, and the fulfillment of the author’ s obsession veers perilously close to sounding like an end in itself. From this article, we may draw the conclusion that
A. The focus on the bird is an important yet missing characteristic, and without it even the successful discovery will seem hollow
B. It is not the bird but the human efforts that attract a lot of readers’ attention
C. The article argues that the book is with great content and great focus
D. Although the book is not stylish, readers still find interesting things in its characterization and extended history of the bird
火山爆发与减少耕地面积之间有联系吗 1982年2月底至3月,墨西哥爱尔·基琼火山爆发。据报道,这次火山爆发飞向天空的火山灰数量是观测史上数量最大的一次,这对自然界产生了重大的影响。一方面,大量的火山灰喷入空中,遮蔽了自然日光,山太阳发出的光能就会被反射回去,从而使得那些需要阳光的地球生物无法获得充足的太阳能。另一方面,由于火山灰云笼罩了整个地球,仿佛给地球盖了个天棚,这个天棚会使本来应从地球向外散发的某些能量反射回地球。结果世界各地几个典型地区产生了显著的气象变化。 1983年冬,某北极考察船在北极被困住。往常根本不会结冰的地方,这回竟结冰封冻了,甚至连前去救援的破冰船也进退不能。大量火山灰飞向天空,使空气有了大量水蒸气变成水滴的核,平时不会变成水滴的水蒸气也变成了水滴,结果造成沿海地区大量降雨,像英国、法国海岸、西班牙、葡萄牙等这样一些本来就是多雨的地区,降雨量进一步增加。伦敦降雨27天,为历史所少见。与沿海地区的多雨相反,在那些内陆地区却出现了严重的干旱。季风刮来,在沿海地带雨水就已降下,季风无法再将水分带向内陆地区,于是干燥的空气被送往内地。结果伴随着西欧沿海国家的多雨,东欧三国出现了有史以来的第一次大旱。大雨、干旱、寒冷必然会导致全世界范围的农业歉收。对气象问题颇有研究的美国拥有气象卫星,依靠这些卫星,可以对全世界的农业进行监视。所以,对于上述种种气象变化所导致的世界各地农业不振的局面,当然也是清楚的。但就在此时,美国却推出了一个减少1/3耕地面积的决定。 美国是在明知世界各地的农业将出现不景气的情况下,决定减少耕地面积的。据说在施行这一决定时,美国官方还采取一旦农民需要,立刻还给他们减少的那部分粮食的做法。毫无疑问,结果是谷物价格上涨,芝加哥的谷物市价比以往上升了1.6倍。此外,由于谷物价格的提高,农民的收入随之增多。这给与农业相关的行业,如农具、化肥、农药等也带来了新的转机。 事实上,早在1982年,美国就将粮食作为战略物资,试图禁止对苏联的出口,但结果却失败了。在爱尔·基琼火山爆发引发世界气候大变化之前,除美国外还有一些国家也具有粮食出口能力。例如,苏联从阿根廷进口粮食,就曾使美国出现大量的粮食剩余,其价格直线下降,引起农民和一部分人的不满。 世界农业大面积歉收,最具粮食出口能力的美国减少1/3的耕地面积,这使得依赖粮食进口的苏联必须花更多的外汇换取粮食。这样,1982年美国遭受的损失,又借助天气赚了回来。所以有人把美国的这一决定视为利用气象因素实现一箭多雕的绝好范例。然而,美国的决定是否真的明智和成功呢 根据上述情况,请回答下列问题: 美国政府的上述决策具有如下特点( )。
A. 决策目标不是非常明确
B. 对决策后果并未作全面系统分析
C. 决策没有考虑对谷物市场价格的影响
D. 决策过程非常草率
火山爆发与减少耕地面积之间有联系吗 1982年2月底至3月,墨西哥爱尔·基琼火山爆发。据报道,这次火山爆发飞向天空的火山灰数量是观测史上数量最大的一次,这对自然界产生了重大的影响。一方面,大量的火山灰喷入空中,遮蔽了自然日光,山太阳发出的光能就会被反射回去,从而使得那些需要阳光的地球生物无法获得充足的太阳能。另一方面,由于火山灰云笼罩了整个地球,仿佛给地球盖了个天棚,这个天棚会使本来应从地球向外散发的某些能量反射回地球。结果世界各地几个典型地区产生了显著的气象变化。 1983年冬,某北极考察船在北极被困住。往常根本不会结冰的地方,这回竟结冰封冻了,甚至连前去救援的破冰船也进退不能。大量火山灰飞向天空,使空气有了大量水蒸气变成水滴的核,平时不会变成水滴的水蒸气也变成了水滴,结果造成沿海地区大量降雨,像英国、法国海岸、西班牙、葡萄牙等这样一些本来就是多雨的地区,降雨量进一步增加。伦敦降雨27天,为历史所少见。与沿海地区的多雨相反,在那些内陆地区却出现了严重的干旱。季风刮来,在沿海地带雨水就已降下,季风无法再将水分带向内陆地区,于是干燥的空气被送往内地。结果伴随着西欧沿海国家的多雨,东欧三国出现了有史以来的第一次大旱。大雨、干旱、寒冷必然会导致全世界范围的农业歉收。对气象问题颇有研究的美国拥有气象卫星,依靠这些卫星,可以对全世界的农业进行监视。所以,对于上述种种气象变化所导致的世界各地农业不振的局面,当然也是清楚的。但就在此时,美国却推出了一个减少1/3耕地面积的决定。 美国是在明知世界各地的农业将出现不景气的情况下,决定减少耕地面积的。据说在施行这一决定时,美国官方还采取一旦农民需要,立刻还给他们减少的那部分粮食的做法。毫无疑问,结果是谷物价格上涨,芝加哥的谷物市价比以往上升了1.6倍。此外,由于谷物价格的提高,农民的收入随之增多。这给与农业相关的行业,如农具、化肥、农药等也带来了新的转机。 事实上,早在1982年,美国就将粮食作为战略物资,试图禁止对苏联的出口,但结果却失败了。在爱尔·基琼火山爆发引发世界气候大变化之前,除美国外还有一些国家也具有粮食出口能力。例如,苏联从阿根廷进口粮食,就曾使美国出现大量的粮食剩余,其价格直线下降,引起农民和一部分人的不满。 世界农业大面积歉收,最具粮食出口能力的美国减少1/3的耕地面积,这使得依赖粮食进口的苏联必须花更多的外汇换取粮食。这样,1982年美国遭受的损失,又借助天气赚了回来。所以有人把美国的这一决定视为利用气象因素实现一箭多雕的绝好范例。然而,美国的决定是否真的明智和成功呢 根据上述情况,请回答下列问题: 美国政府应从以下哪个方面考虑此类决策( )
A. 维护世界和平,促进人类合作
B. 充分就业,物价稳定
C. 国内经济稳定增长,国际收支平衡
D. 以上各方面都需要考虑