Mutilated ladies

Children often have far more sense than
their elders. This simple truth was
demonstrated rather dramatically during
a civil defence exercise in a small town in
Canada. Most of the inhabitants were
asked to take part in the exercise during
which they had to pretend that their city
had been bombed. Air-raid warnings
were sounded and thousands of people
went into special air-raid shelters. Doctors
and nurses remained above ground while
Police patrolled¹ the streets in case anyone
tried to leave the shelters too soon.
The police did not have much to do
because the citizens took the exercise
seriously. They stayed underground for
twenty minutes and waited for the siren² to sound again. On leaving the air-raid
shelters, they saw that doctors and nurses were busy. A great many people had
volunteered to act as casualties³. Theatrical⁴ make-up and artificial blood had
been used to make the injuries look realistic. A lot of People were lying 'dead'
in the streets. The living helped to carry the dead and wounded to special
stations. A Child of six was brought in by two adults. The child was supposed to
be dead. With theatrical make-up on his face, he looked as if he had died of
shock. Some people were so moved by the sight that they began to cry. However,
the child suddenly sat up and a doctor asked him to comment on his death.
The child looked around for a moment and said, 'I think they're all crazy!'

1 patrolled   

vt.& vi.巡逻，巡查（patrol的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Troops patrolled the border day and night. 军队日夜在边境地区巡逻。
• Soldiers patrolled the castle ramparts. 士兵们在城堡城墙上巡逻。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 siren   

n.汽笛，警报器，迷人的女人，妖妇

参考例句：

• The cars had stopped at the sound of the approaching siren.这些汽车听到愈来愈近的警笛声便停了下来。
• That woman is a real siren.那女人真是条美女蛇.。

3 casualties   

n. 伤亡人员

参考例句：

• Two casualties were airlifted to safety . 两名伤亡人员已空运到安全地区。
• The army were still fighting in spite of heavy casualties. 尽管伤亡人员众多，军队仍在继续战斗。

4 theatrical   

adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的

参考例句：

• The final scene was dismayingly lacking in theatrical effect.最后一场缺乏戏剧效果，叫人失望。
• She always makes some theatrical gesture.她老在做些夸张的手势。