消防员们终于扑灭了加利福尼亚州的一场大型森林火灾。
At last firemen have put out a big forest fire in California.
从那时起，他们一直在试图查明这场火灾是如何发生的。
Since then, they have been trying to find out how the fire began.
森林火灾通常是由碎玻璃或人们随手丢弃的烟蒂引起的。
Forest fires are often caused by broken glass or by cigarette ends which people carelessly throw away.
昨天消防员们仔细检查了地面，但没能找到任何碎玻璃。
Yesterday the firemen examined the ground carefully, but were not able to find any broken glass.
他们也相当确信烟蒂并没有引发这场火灾。
They were also quite sure that a cigarette end did not start the fire.
然而，今天上午，一名消防员意外地发现了起火的原因。
This morning, however, a fireman accidentally discovered the cause.
他注意到一条蛇的残骸缠绕在一条16000伏高压输电线的电线上。
He noticed the remains of a snake which was wound round the electric wires of a 16,000-volt power line.
就这样，他得以解开了这个谜团。
In this way, he was able to solve the mystery.
这个解释既简单又非常不寻常。
The explanation was simple but very unusual.
一只鸟从地上猛地抓起了那条蛇，然后把它扔到了电线上。
A bird had snatched up the snake from the ground and then dropped it on to the wires.
蛇随后把自己缠绕在了电线上。
The snake then wound itself round the wires.
当它这样做时，它溅出了火花落到地面上，这些火花立刻引发了一场大火。
When it did so, it sent sparks down to the ground and these immediately started a fire.