The junction between Elm Street and Beech Street was an accident black spot. It was easy to assume that no one would be coming the other way, and if a driver was not attentive enough he could easily come to grief. People attributed this to the fact that children would often assemble at the junction, making it hard for drivers to assess the traffic situation. 

榆树街和山毛榉街的交叉处是交通事故的高发地段。人们往往会以为对面不会有人来，如果再赶上司机不够注意，不幸就很容易发生。人们把原因归于孩子们经常聚集在这个交叉路口，使司机很难估测前方的交通路况。

Local residents would often assert that the only way to make the junction safe would be to augment the poorly lit stop signs with a set of lights, or at the very least, to assign a lollipop person to the junction at the times when children were going to and from school.

当地居民常常坚持认为，确保这一交叉路口安全的办法是改善昏暗的停车路标，在上面增加一套交通信号灯，或至少在交叉路口分派一个交通纠察，在孩子们上下学时指挥那里的交通。

The local police were sympathetic to these requests, but to no avail. They claimed they lacked the authority to install a set of lights. Things had been tight since the previous year’s local government audit, and funds were unlikely to be forthcoming. However, they would, when asked, frequently assure the questioner that they hoped the government would soon augment their budget and allow them increased autonomy in making financial decisions, in which case dealing with the Elm Street junction would be a top priority. 

当地警察虽赞同这些请求，但最终没有效果。他们声称他们无权增设信号灯。自从上一年地方政府对他们的财务进行审计以后，财务就紧张起来了，资金不大可能被批下来。但有人问起此事时，他们经常向提问者保证，他们希望政府很快增加他们的预算，扩大他们在财务决策中的自主权，这样他们就可以首先解决榆树街交叉路口的交通问题。

Many people pointed out that simply to wait for the government to act was pointless, that maybe a set of traffic lights could be purchased cheaply in an auction, or that a lollipop person, besides making the junction safer for the children, would cheer the place up and be an authentic asset to the community. But it seemed that for ordinary people to suggest improvements to their own community merely served to astonish the police.

许多人指出光等政府采取措施是无济于事的，而且一套交通信号灯在拍卖会上也许很便宜就可买到，还有，交通纠察除了保证孩子们更安全地通过交叉路口外，还可以活跃当地气氛，成为真正给这一地区带来好处的人。但普通民众建议改进本地社区状况似乎只会使警察大为震惊。

The matter was settled in a rather unlikely fashion. At the beginning of March a collision occurred between the chief of police and the auxiliary fire service chief who was speeding to attend a fire. The chief of police saw the accident coming and sounded his horn to give aural warning of his approach, but the auxiliary fire service chief was already attempting to avoid a small boy and was unable to assimilate the warning signals in time.

问题以相当不可思议的方式解决了。3 月初发生了一起交通事故，警长的车与火速赶去参加救火的消防副队长的车相撞。眼看事故要发生了，警长赶紧鸣喇叭，给他以听觉上的警告——他的车要开过来了。但这时消防副队长正设法躲开一个小男孩，没能及时听到警报声。事故发生了。

The auxiliary fire service chief and his associate, who was in the back seat, were unhurt. The chief of police, however, was slightly concussed. He got out of his vehicle and staggered around with a slightly bemused expression on his face, as though he was about to attain nirvana, after which he spent twenty minutes trying to attach a parking ticket to the hole where the fireman’s windscreen had been.

消防副队长和坐在后面的助手没有受伤。但警长有些轻微的脑震荡。他走下车来，跌跌撞撞，表情有些茫然，好像来到了天堂。然后，他花了20 分钟试图把停车罚款单贴在消防车风挡玻璃留下的洞上。

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