中國網站品牌欄目（頻道）
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 People shop for food from almost empty shelves at a big-box supermarket in Tokyo March 16, 2011. |
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Areas of Tokyo usually packed with office workers like sushi restaurants and noodle shops were eerily quiet. Many schools were closed. Companies allowed workers to stay home. Long queues formed at airports. As Japanese authorities struggled to avert disaster at an earthquake-battered nuclear complex 240 km (150 miles) to the north, parts of Tokyo resembled a ghost town. Many stocked up on food and stayed indoors or simply left, transforming one of the world's biggest and densely populated cities into a shell of its usual self. "Look, it's like Sunday -- no cars in town," said Kazushi Arisawa, a 62-year-old taxi driver, as he waited for more than an hour outside an office tower where he usually finds customers within minutes. "I can't make money today." Radiation in Tokyo has been negligible, briefly touching three times the normal rate Tuesday, smaller than a dental x-ray. Wednesday, winds over the Fukushima nuclear-power plant gusted out to sea, keeping levels close to normal. But that does little to allay public anxiety about an ailing 40-year-old nuclear complex with three reactors in partial meltdown and a fourth with spent atomic fuel exposed to the atmosphere after last Friday's earthquake and tsunami. "Radiation moves faster than we do," said Steven Swanson, a 43-year-old American who moved to Tokyo in December with his Japanese wife to help with her family business. He is staying indoors but is tempted to leave. "It's scary. It's a triple threat with the earthquake, tsunami and the nuclear radiation leaks. It makes you wonder what's next." A number of major events have been canceled, including the World Figure Skating Championships, Japan Fashion Week and the Tokyo International Anime Fair whose organizers cited "extreme circumstances." Some foreign bankers, flush with money, are fleeing fast, some on private jets. BNP Paribas, Standard Chartered and Morgan Stanley were among banks whose staff have left since Friday, according to industry sources. Thousands of people have inundated private jet companies with requests for evacuation flights, sending prices surging. Electronics shops are selling out of small, portable Geiger counters that measure radiation. Strawberry Linux, a Tokyo-based company, is out of stock, said its owner, Masahiro Ochiai. (Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Website.) (Agencies) |
在東京，往日擠滿上班族的壽司店和面館如今靜得可怕。許多學校都關閉了。公司允許員工們待在家里。機場排起了長龍。 日本當局正在努力避免遭地震重創的核電站造成災難，與此同時，東京的一些地區看起來就像鬼城。核爆炸發生在東京以北240公里（150英里）處。 許多人囤積食物，閉門不出，也有很多人干脆離開了東京。東京是全世界最大、人口最密集的城市之一，如今變成了一個空殼。 一位名叫有澤和司的62歲出租車司機說：“你瞧，城里沒什么車，就像星期天一樣?！彼呀浽谝蛔k公大樓外等了一個多小時，而往常他幾分鐘就能拉到客人。他說：“我今天是賺不到錢了?！?/p> 周二，東京受到的核輻射比較微弱，輻射強度只是往常的三倍，比牙科X光的輻射還要弱，基本可以忽略。周三，經過福島核電站的風吹向了大海，核輻射強度接近正常水平。 但這一消息無法緩解公眾對于核輻射的焦慮情緒。這一在40年前修建的核電站已開始出現破損，有三個反應堆已出現部分核心熔毀，還有一個反應堆的廢棄核燃料在上周五的地震和海嘯過后被暴露在空氣中。 一位名叫史蒂芬?斯旺森的43歲美國人說：“核輻射擴散的動作比我們要快?！比ツ?2月他和他的日本妻子搬到東京居住，幫忙經營妻子的家族生意。 他現在待在家里，但是很想離開東京?！罢媸峭植赖?。我們面臨地震、海嘯和核輻射泄漏三重威脅。真不知道接下去還要發生什么。” 許多重大活動都被取消了，包括世界花樣滑冰錦標賽、日本時裝周和東京國際動漫展。組織者們稱這次是“極端情況”。 一些富有的外國銀行家逃得很快，有些人是坐私人飛機走的。根據業內消息，在上周五地震發生后，法國巴黎銀行、渣打銀行和摩根史坦利等銀行的員工都已經離開了東京。 成千上萬的人涌向私人飛機公司預訂離開東京的航班，讓機票價格水漲船高。 在電子產品商店，用來測量輻射強度的小型便攜式蓋革計數器都已經賣光了。東京的Strawberry Linux公司的業主落合雅宏說，他公司的產品已經脫銷。 相關閱讀 （中國日報網英語點津 陳丹妮 編輯：馬文英） |
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Vocabulary: eerily: 怪異的；神秘的；令人恐怖的 allay: to make something, especially a feeling, less strong 減輕（尤指情緒） reactor: a large structure used for the controlled production of nuclear energy （核反應堆；反應器） meltdown: a serious accident in which the central part of a nuclear reactor melts, causing harmful radiation to escape 核反應堆核心熔毀（導致核輻射泄漏） spent: that has been used, so that it cannot be used again（用過已廢的；失效的） inundate: to give or send somebody so many things that they cannot deal with them all（使不勝負荷；使應接不暇） |
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