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 ends which people carelessly throw away.

森林火灾时常由破碎的玻璃或人们随手扔掉的香烟头引起。

Yesterday the firemen examined the ground carefully, but were not able to find any broken glass.

昨天，消防队员仔细查看了地面，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.

然而今天上午，一个消防队员偶然发现了起火的原因。

He noticed the remains of a snake which was wound round the electric wires of a 16,000-volt power line.

他发现了缠绕在16,000伏高压线上的一条死蛇。

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 and then dropped it on to the wires.

一只鸟把蛇从地上抓起来，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 and these immediately started a fire.

当它这样做时，把火花送到了地面，这些火花立刻引起了一场大火。