[al:新概念英语（二）] [ar:MP3 同步字幕版（英音）] [ti:Hot Snake] [by:更多学习内容，请到chazidian.com搜索“新概念”] [00:12.74]What caused the fire? [00:17.17]At last firemen have put out a big forest fire in California. [00:23.85]Since then, they have been trying to find out how the fire began. [00:29.51]Forest fires are often caused by broken glass or by cigarette ends which people carelessly throw away. [00:38.49]Yesterday the firemen examined the ground carefully, [00:42.72]but were not able to find any broken glass. [00:47.11]They were also quite sure that a cigarette end did not start the fire. [00:53.21]This morning, however, a firemen accidentally discovered the cause. [00:59.67]He noticed the remains of a snake which was wound round the electric wires of a 16, 000-volt power line. [01:08.94]In this way, he was able to solve the mystery. [01:13.45]The explanation was simple but very unusual. [01:19.07]A bird had snatched up the snake from the ground and then dropped it on to the wires. [01:26.26]The snake then wound itself round the wires. [01:30.41]When it did so, it sent sparks down to the ground and these immediately started a fire.