Chapter 3

 They turned the corner, coming upon a rare sight. It was a motor vehicle accident, first in the business district for months. A school bus lay on its side, just short of the intersection¹. Children were clambering cautiously from the emergency door. The uniformed driver was ignoring his passengers, staring in disbelief at the radar² controls at the street corner, which had failed a moment earlier.

The other vehicle involved in the crash was wrapped around a power pole. It was an auto³ of antique vintage, produced before full automatic driving provisions. There weren't more than a dozen such vehicles remaining on the streets of the city. The radar controls almost never went on the blink. Only the combination of the vehicle and the inoperative controls could have created an accident.

Dr. Needzak led the other doctors through the thickening crowd, to the side of the bus. Kids were no longer climbing through the emergency exit, but noises were coming from within the vehicle. His bag under his left arm, he hauled himself atop the overturned bus, and dropped through the emergency exit into its half-dark interior. He saw the other two doctors outlined against the sky, as they perched on the horizontal side of the vehicle, peering down, helpless without their bags.

Dr. Needzak found a small boy sprawled⁴ awkwardly around a seat, bleeding rapidly from the leg, face ashen⁵, unconscious. The physician clipped off the trousers leg, bound the leg tightly above the deep gash⁶, and slipped on a bandage. Then he lifted the small boy up to Dr. Carson.

1 intersection   

n.交集，十字路口，交叉点；[计算机] 交集

参考例句：

• There is a stop sign at an intersection.在交叉路口处有停车标志。
• Bridges are used to avoid the intersection of a railway and a highway.桥用来避免铁路和公路直接交叉。

2 radar   

n.雷达，无线电探测器

参考例句：

• They are following the flight of an aircraft by radar.他们正在用雷达追踪一架飞机的飞行。
• Enemy ships were detected on the radar.敌舰的影像已显现在雷达上。

3 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

4 sprawled   

v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的过去式和过去分词)；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着）

参考例句：

• He was sprawled full-length across the bed. 他手脚摊开横躺在床上。
• He was lying sprawled in an armchair, watching TV. 他四肢伸开正懒散地靠在扶手椅上看电视。

5 ashen   

adj.灰的

参考例句：

• His face was ashen and wet with sweat.他面如土色，汗如雨下。
• Her ashen face showed how much the news had shocked her.她灰白的脸显示出那消息使她多么震惊。

6 gash   

v.深切，划开；n.(深长的)切(伤)口；裂缝

参考例句：

• The deep gash in his arm would take weeks to heal over.他胳膊上的割伤很深，需要几个星期的时间才能痊愈。
• After the collision,the body of the ship had a big gash.船被撞后，船身裂开了一个大口子。