实用英语推荐：房子起火鹦鹉大呼"救命"

Emergency crews responding to a house fire in Idaho Friday night expected to find an elderly woman inside the home when they heard cries of "help" and "fire."

周五的晚上，爱达荷州一幢房子失火，消防员紧急出警，当听到屋里有人喊“救命”、“着火了”时，他们还以为是个老太太被困屋内。

But after an extensive search, firefighters were only able to find two parrots — one who happened to be more verbal than the other.

但经过一番彻底搜查，消防员仅在里面发现两只鹦鹉——其中有一只恰好特别爱说话。

Calls about the two-alarm blaze in rural Boise came into the Middleton Fire Department at about 9:30 p.m., said Victor Islas, a community relations officer for the department.

米德尔顿消防站负责社区警民关系的警官维克特·伊斯拉斯称，晚上9点30分左右，他们接到了来自博伊西乡郊的二级火警电话。

"Once the captain did his walk-around, he could hear something or someone inside yelling, 'help, fire, help, fire,'" Islas said. Crews went into "rescue mode" and called for backup, thinking that the calls for help were coming from an elderly female, Islas said.

伊斯拉斯说，“队长在火场四周查看时，突然听到有什么东西或什么人在里面大喊：‘救命，着火啦，救命，着火啦。’”他表示，当时大家以为被困求救的可能是一位老太太，所以全体消防员进入“营救模式”，并要求支援。

When firefighters couldn't find anyone in the house, they started using thermal imagery technology, which detected no people, but rather, a parrot sitting on a table, Islas said.

伊斯拉斯说，当消防员在屋里找不到人时，他们便用热成像技术探测，但仍然找不到被困人员，却发现一只鹦鹉正坐在桌子上。

The boisterous female parrot was rescued, along with a quieter male parrot. The female parrot was given oxygen by way of an adult oxygen mask, Islas said. She immediately perked up and started to imitate the sounds of the sirens, he said.

他表示，这只爱吵闹的雌鹦鹉和另一只相对安静的雄鹦鹉就这样获救了。他说，通过成人氧气面罩给这只雌鹦鹉输入氧气后，她立刻活跃起来，开始模仿警报器的声音。

No one was injured in the fire, which ended up being contained to only one room in the house, according to the Middleton Fire Department.

米德尔顿消防站称，本次火灾中无人受伤，火势被成功控制在一个房间的范围内。

Vocabulary

two-alarm：二级火警(级数越高险情越大)

backup：后援，支援

thermal imagery technology：热成像技术

boisterous：爱吵闹的

perk up：振作精神