省晋江市季延中学高中英语基础阅读材料1.docVIP

高二英语基础阅读材料 Lesson 53 Hot snake 触电的蛇What caused the fire?At last firemen have put out a big forest fire in California. Since then, they have been 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ot [h?t] adj. 带电的，充电的wire [wa??(r)] n. 电线volt [v?ult] n.伏特(电压单位)cause [k?:z] v.引起；n．原因powerline [?pau? lain] 电力线examine [?ɡz?m?n] v.检查solve [s?lv] v.解决accidentally [??ks?dent?l?] adv. 意外地，偶然地mystery [?m?stri] n.谜snatch [sn?t?] v. 抓住remains [r??me?nz] n.尸体，残骸spark [spɑ:k] n.电火花回答下列问题1 Have firemen put out a big forest fire in California or not? Have they been trying to discover its cause? 2 Was there any evidence that it was started by broken glass or by a cigarette end or not? 3 Who has just solved the mystery? 4 What did he notice? Had it been dropped by a bird on to the electric wires or not? 5 Where did the snake wind itself? What had it sent to the ground? Did this cause the fire or not? Exercises 练习划出课文中表示一般过去时，现在完成时和现在完成进行时的动词来。用正确的时态填空，完成练习后再对照课文核对你的答案：At last firemen______(put) out a big forest fire in California. Since then, they______(try)to find out how the fire______(begin).Yesterday the firemen______(examine)the ground carefully, but______(not be)able to find any broken glass. They_____