A young woman sits alone in a café sipping tea and reading a book.

　　一位年轻女士独坐咖啡馆，一边小口喝茶一边看书。

　　She pauses briefly to scribble in a nearby notepad before showing her words to a passing café worker: "Where are the toilets please?"

　　她停了一小下，在旁边的便签本上草草写上几个字，拿给路过的服务员看，上面写着："请问洗手间在哪儿?"

　　This is a familiar scenario in Tokyo's so-called "silent cafés", spaces which appear at first glance to be conventional cafés but where customers are not allowed to speak, communicating instead by writing on notepads.

　　在东京所谓的"沉默咖啡馆"里，这是司空见惯的情景。这些咖啡馆乍一看与普通咖啡馆无异，但进店的顾客不可讲话，只能通过在便签本上写字来交流。

　　A growing number of "silent cafés" - with self-imposed chat bans - are opening across the capital, attracting a steady stream of Tokyoites keen to swap the pressure-cooker pace of urban life for solitary silence.

　　顾客自愿闭口不言的"沉默咖啡馆"越来越多，在东京各处开张，吸引了一批稳定的东京人群，他们急需这样的地方逃离城市生活的高压节奏，换取片刻独处的宁静。

　　来源：每日英文简讯