新概念英语第二册Lesson 53 Hot snake 触电的蛇 讲义

新概念英语第二册第53课 Lesson53 Hot snake触电的蛇 At last firemen have put out a big forest fire in California. Since then,they havebeen 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 the 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. New words and expressions生词和短语 hot ad带电的，充电的 fireman n.消防队员 cause v.引起；n.原因 examine V.检查 accidentally adv.意外地，偶然地 remains n.尸体，残骸 wire n. 电线 volt n. 伏特（电压单位） power line 电力线 solve V. 解决 mystery n.谜 snatch V. 抓住 spark n. 电火花 参考译文 消防队员们终于扑灭了加利福尼亚的一场森林大火。从那时起，他 们一直试图找出起火的原因。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。昨天，消防队员仔细查看了地面，但未能发 现碎玻璃。他们还十分肯定火灾也不是由烟头引起的。然而今天上 午，一个消防队员偶然发现了起火的原因。他发现了缠绕在16,000 伏高压线上的一条死蛇。就这样，他解开了起火之谜。解释很简单， 却异乎寻常。一只鸟把蛇从地上抓起来，然后把它扔到了电线上。 于是蛇就缠住了几根电线。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。 课文解释 1.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。 1)短语at last的意思是“终于、最终”（相当于in the end),表 示是在经过一番努力之后获得的结果。 2)短语动词put out在本句中指“扑灭（火)”。这个短语动词还 可以用来表示“关掉”、“伸出”等含义。详细解释大家可同时 参看Lesson27中“重点词汇”（与put有关的短语动词）的相关 内容。 3)短语a big forest fire指“一场森林大火”。名词forest在这 个短语中用作定语来修饰中心词fire。名词用作定语时，原则上 要用单数，如： a story book一本故事书（不能用：a stories book): a baby girl一个女婴； a press conference一次新闻发布会。 不过，有些只有复数形式的名词，或习惯上通常用复数形式的 名词，在充当定语时，要用复数形式。如：an arts degree文 科学位 a savings bank一家储蓄银行，等。 2.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。 1)短语动词find out表示