[双语新闻] 核辐射蔓延至东京 大都市或变“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.
在东京，往日挤满上班族的寿司店和面馆如今静得可怕。许多学校都关闭了。公司允许员工们待在家里。机场排起了长龙。

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.
日本当局正在努力避免遭地震重创的核电站造成灾难，与此同时，东京的一些地区看起来就像鬼城。核爆炸发生在东京以北240公里（150英里）处。

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.
许多人囤积食物，闭门不出，也有很多人干脆离开了东京。东京是全世界最大、人口最密集的城市之一，如今变成了一个空壳。

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，东京受到的核辐射比较微弱，辐射强度只是往常的三倍，比牙科X光的辐射还要弱，基本可以忽略。周三，经过福岛核电站的风吹向了大海，核辐射强度接近正常水平。

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.
但这一消息无法缓解公众对于核辐射的焦虑情绪。这一在40年前修建的核电站已开始出现破损，有三个反应堆已出现部分核心熔毁，还有一个反应堆的废弃核燃料在上周五的地震和海啸过后被暴露在空气中。

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."
许多重大活动都被取消了，包括世界花样滑冰锦标赛、日本时装周和东京国际动漫展。组织者们称这次是“极端情况”。

Thousands of people have inundated private jet companies with requests for evacuation flights, sending prices surging.
成千上万的人涌向私人飞机公司预订离开东京的航班，让机票价格水涨船高。