蛇缠高压线引发森林火灾之谜

字幕原文

Lesson 53. 第53课

Hot Snake. 热蛇

At last, 终于

firemen have put out a big forest fire in California. 消防员扑灭了加州的一场大森林火灾

Since then, 从那以后

they have been trying to find out how the fire began. 他们一直在查火是怎么烧起来的

Forest fires are often caused by broken glass or by cigarette ends, 森林火灾常常是碎玻璃或烟头引起的

which people carelessly throw away. 都是人们随手乱扔的

Yesterday, 昨天

the firemen examined the ground carefully, 消防员仔细检查了地面

but were not able to find any broken glass. 但没找到任何碎玻璃

They were also quite sure that a cigarette end did not start the fire. 他们也挺肯定不是烟头点的火

This morning, however, 不过今天早上

a fireman accidentally discovered the cause. 一个消防员意外发现了原因

He noticed the remains of a snake which was wound round the electric wires 他注意到一条蛇缠在电线上

of a 16,000 volt power line. 那是条1.6万伏的高压线

In this way he was able to solve the mystery. 就这样他解开了谜团

The explanation was simple but very unusual. 解释很简单但特别不寻常

A bird had snatched up the snake from the ground and then dropped it onto the wires. 一只鸟从地上叼起蛇然后扔到了电线上

The snake then wound itself round the wires When it did so, 蛇就缠住了电线

it sent sparks down to the ground And these immediately started a fire 这一缠火花掉到地上立刻引燃了火