So a Westernized generation of Chinese youths, the same people who normally crowd any of Beijing's 44 McDonald's outlets and yearn to attend U.C.L.A, unleashed a fury of anti-Americanism.

Brokers and buyers normally crowd the docks and boatyards this time of year along the waterfront of this small Fairfield County village on Long Island Sound.

Beaches, normally crowded on hot days, are nearly empty for fear of an Israeli artillery shell, from the regular artillery rounds or from the Israeli gunboats off the coast.

The crowds were silent as the cars passed along streets normally crowded with pedestrians, horse carts and ancient trucks or buses.

Manger Square, normally crowded to overflowing with raucous crowds at midnight Mass, was nearly empty on Saturday night.

Not a soul moved, not even the shipfitters and fishermen that normally crowded the waterfront and piers.

At Shinnecock Inlet, normally crowded with commercial and recreational boats, nothing moved except the sea, which sent waves 8 to 10 feet high crashing against the breakwater.

Though normally crowded, most of the officers not in their bunks, or about to go there, were at battle stations.

Climbing the stairs in his building was worse than usual, the people who normally crowded the stoop and curb were sitting here, some of them even lying asleep across the steps.

They were joined by large numbers of aid workers from agencies like the International Rescue Committee and Catholic Relief Services, recognizable in the white vehicles that normally crowd the roads.