[雙語新聞] 核輻射蔓延至東京 大都市或變“鬼城”

 

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.
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。

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(chuàng)的核電站造成災難，與此同時，東京的一些地區(qū)看起來就像鬼城。核爆炸發(fā)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。

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.
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。

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.
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(xiàn)破損，有三個反應堆已出現(xiàn)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。

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、日本時裝周和東京國際動漫展。組織者們稱這次是“極端情況”。

Thousands of people have inundated private 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。