[00:01.000]--- Lesson 53 Hot snake
[00:06.840]--- First listen and then answer the question.
[00:12.320]--- What caused the fire?
[00:16.720]At last firemen have put out a big forest fire in California.
[00:23.400]Since then, they have been trying to find out how the fire began.
[00:29.040]Forest fires are often caused by broken glass or by cigarette ends which people carelessly throw away.
[00:38.000]Yesterday the firemen examined the ground carefully, but were not able to find any broken glass.
[00:46.640]They were also quite sure that a cigarette end did not start the fire.
[00:52.800]This morning, however, a firemen accidentally discovered the cause.
[00:59.200]He noticed the remains of a snake which was wound round the electric wires of a 16,000-volt power line.
[01:08.480]In this way, he was able to solve the mystery.
[01:13.040]The explanation was simple but very unusual.
[01:18.560]A bird had snatched up the snake from the ground and then dropped it on to the wires.
[01:25.800]The snake then wound itself round the wires.
[01:29.920]When it did so, it sent sparks down to the ground and these immediately started a fire.
[01:40.120]--- end