Lesson53 Hot snake At last firemen have put ____ a big forest fire in California. Since then, they have been trying to find out how the fire began. Forest fire are often ____ by broken glass or by cigarette ____ which people _____ 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 ____ the fire. This morning, however, a fireman accidentally _____ the cause. He noticed the _____ of a snake which was wound round the electric wires of a 16,000-volt power line. In this way, he was able to _____ the mystery. The explanation was simple but very unusual. A bird had ______ 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 _____ down to the ground and these immediately started a fire. Lesson54 Sticky fingers After breakfast, I sent the children to school and then I went to market. It was still early when I _____ home. The children were at school, my husband was at work and the house was quiet. So I _____ to make some tarts for tea. In a short time I was busy ____ butter and flour and my hands were soon ____ with ____ pastry. At exactly that moment, the telephone rang. Nothing could have been more annoying. I picked up the receiver between two sticky fingers and was _____ when I _____ the voice of Mrs Bates. It took me ten minutes to _____ her to ring back later. At last I hung up the receiver. What a mess! There was pastry on my fingers, on the telephone, and on the door-knobs. I had no sooner got back to the kitchen than the door-bell rang loud ____ to wake the dead. This time it was the postman and he wanted me to sign ____ a registered letter!