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阅读理解
Areas of Tokyo which had usually been packed with office workers like sushi(寿司)restaurants and noodle shops were unusually quiet．Many schools were closed．Companies allowed workers to stay home．Long queues formed at airports．
As Japanese authorities struggled to avoid disaster at an earthquake - battered nuclear plant 240 km to the north, parts of Tokyo resembled a ghost town．Many people stocked up on food and stayed indoors or simply left．transforming one of the world' s biggest and most 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 on Tuesday, smaller than a dental X -ray．On Wednesday, winds over the Fukushima(福岛)nuclear-power plant blew out to sea, keeping levels close to normal．But that does little to relieve public anxiety about a 40-year-old nuclear plant with three reactors in partial meltdown(熔毁)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 indoor 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．"
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