6月23日下午,北京迎來(lái)一場(chǎng)強(qiáng)降水,大風(fēng)伴隨大雨傾盆而下,晝?nèi)绨狄埂3菂^(qū)部分路段出現(xiàn)擁堵現(xiàn)象,首都國(guó)際機(jī)場(chǎng)所有進(jìn)出港航班均被取消。
請(qǐng)看《中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)》的報(bào)道:
An airport spokesman said the torrential downpour caused 144 flights to be canceled and 93 flights delayed for more than an hour at the Beijing Capital International Airport by 9 pm Thursday.
首都國(guó)際機(jī)場(chǎng)一位發(fā)言人稱,截至上周四晚9點(diǎn),這場(chǎng)傾盆大雨導(dǎo)致144架航班被取消,93架航班延誤超過(guò)一小時(shí)。
文中的torrential downpour就是“傾盆大雨”,類似的說(shuō)法還有drenching downpour、come down in bucket/sheets、rainstorm、cloudburst、a deluge (of rain)等等。暴雨來(lái)臨前,北京市氣象臺(tái)發(fā)布了blue rainstorm warning(暴雨藍(lán)色預(yù)警)。
關(guān)于大暴雨,還有一種非常形象的說(shuō)法,就是rain cats and dogs。關(guān)于這一習(xí)語(yǔ)的起源有這樣一種解釋:During heavy rains in 17th century England, some city streets became raging rivers of filth carrying many cats and dogs.(17世紀(jì)的英格蘭在下大雨的時(shí)候,一些城市的街道就會(huì)水流成河,而且這些污水中還會(huì)飄浮著大量的死貓死狗。)
傳說(shuō)諾亞建好方舟后,八個(gè)人被帶到船上。God shut the door and then the heavens opened and outpoured.(神關(guān)上了方舟之門,然后天開(kāi)了,暴雨嘩嘩臨降。)因此我們現(xiàn)在也用the heavens opened來(lái)形容下暴雨了,比如:We were waiting at the bus stop when the heavens opened.
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