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At last firemen have put out a big forest fire in California.
消防队员们终于扑灭了加利福尼亚的一场森林大火
Since then, they have been trying to find out how the fire began.
从那时起 他们一直试图找出起火的原因
Forest fires are often caused by broken glass or by cigarette
森林火灾时常由破碎的玻璃或人们随手扔掉的香烟头
which people carelessly throw away.
引起
Yesterday the firemen examined the ground carefully,
昨天 消防队员仔细查看了地面
but were not able to find any broken glass.
但未能发现碎玻璃
They were also quite sure that a cigarette end did not start the fire.
他们还十分肯定 火灾也不是由烟头引起的
This morning, however, a fireman accidentally discovered the cause.
然而今天 一个消防队员偶然发现了上午起火的原因
He noticed the remains of a snake
他发现了
which was wound round the electric wires of
缠绕在16000伏高压线上的
of a 16,000-volt power line.
一条死蛇
In this way, he was able to solve the mystery.
就这样 他解开了起火之谜
The explanation was simple but very unusual.
解释很简单却异乎寻常
A bird had snatched up the snake from the ground
一只鸟把蛇从地上抓起来
and then dropped it on to the wires.
然后把它扔到了电线上
The snake then wound itself round the wires.
于是蛇就缠住了几根电线
When it did so, it sent sparks down to the ground
当它这样做时 把火花送到了地面
and these immediately started a fire.
这些火花立刻引起了一场大火
