一个英语的题目,读不懂,非常急

题目

一个英语的题目,读不懂,非常急
我在做作业,有道题目理解不了,请大家帮下忙,
Suppose you and your lab partner were each given scissors and a strand of ribbon that was 1 meter long.You splice your ribbon in two places.Your lab partner splices the ribbon in five places.
a.How many pieces of ribbon will you have after making your cuts?
b.How many pieces of ribbon will you lab partner have?
而且我查字典splicer是连接起来的意思，为什么这里翻译成剪开啊？我就是这里糊涂了

答案

哦就是说你跟你的同伴一人一条带子
你可以将任意两个地方接起来,他可以接5个地方
然后用剪子剪一刀能把绳子分成几部分
我觉得就是重合部分的问题..
大概..他是想问最多能分几部分..不是数学题吧?
你的那个大概就是3部分
同伴的那个...2^n+1吧..33个