Hot snake

原文

At last firemen have put out a big forest fire in California. Since then, they have been trying to find out how the fire began. Forest fires are often caused by broken glass or by cigarette ends which people carelessly throw away. Yesterday the firemen examined the ground carefully, but were not able to find any broken glass. They were also quite sure that a cigarette end did not start the fire. This morning, however, a firemen accidentally discovered that cause. He noticed the remains of a snake which was wound round the electric wires of a 16,000-volt power line. In this way, he was able to solve the mystery. The explanation was simple but very unusual. A bird had snatched up the snake from the ground and then dropped it on to the wires. The snake then wound itself round the wires. When it did so, it sent sparks down to the ground and these immediately started a fire.

译文

最终加利福尼亚的消防员扑灭了一场森林大火。之后，他们在调查火灾是因为什么导致而引发的。森林大火一般是因为玻璃碎片或者人们随手丢弃的烟头引起的。昨天，他们仔细的搜寻了地面，但是没有发现有碎玻璃。他们十分肯定的认为一个烟头是不会引发这场大火的。然而今天早上，一个消防员偶然有了重大发现。他报告说道看到一条死蛇盘在一根16000伏特的高压线上。就这样，他解决了谜题。这件事情很普通，但是不是很常见。一个鸟从地面上抓住了一条蛇并把它丢到高压线上。这条蛇盘在高压线上。当它这样做的时候，电火花落到地面上引发这场大火。