核危機蔓延東京 大都市或變"鬼城"

Areas of Tokyo usually packed with office workers like sushi restaurants and noodle shops were eerilyquiet. Many schools were closed. Companies allowed workers to stay home. Long queues formed at airports.

在東京，往日擠滿上班族的壽司店和麪館如今靜得可怕。許多學校都關閉了。公司允許員工們待在家裏。機場排起了長龍。

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.

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。

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.

許多人囤積食物，閉門不出，也有很多人乾脆離開了東京。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。

"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."

一位名叫有澤和司的62歲出租車司機說：“你瞧，城裏沒什麼車，就像星期天一樣。”他已經在一座辦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。”

　　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.

週二，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。週三，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。

But that does little to allaypublic anxiety about an ailing 40-year-old nuclear complex with three reactorsin partial meltdownand a fourth with spentatomic fuel exposed to the atmosphere after last Friday's earthquake and tsunami.

但這一消息無法緩解公衆對於核輻射的焦慮情緒。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燬，還有一個反應堆的廢棄核燃料在上週五的地震和海嘯過後被暴露在空氣中。

"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.

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。”去年12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。

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."

他現在待在家裏，但是很想離開東京。“真是挺恐怖的。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麼。”

　　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."

許多重大活動都被取消了，包括世界花樣滑冰錦標賽、日本時裝週和東京國際動漫展。組織者們稱這次是“極端情況”。

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.

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，在上週五地震發生後，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。

Thousands of people have inundatedprivate jet companies with requests for evacuation flights, sending prices surging.

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。

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.

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。