酷兔英语

torrential downpour
倾盆大雨
6月23日下午,北京迎来一场强降水,大风伴随大雨倾盆而下,昼如暗夜。城区部分路段出现拥堵现象,首都国际机场所有进出港航班均被取消。
请看《中国日报》的报道:
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.
首都国际机场一位发言人称,截至上周四晚9点,这场倾盆大雨导致144架航班被取消,93架航班延误超过一小时。
文中的torrential downpour就是"倾盆大雨",类似的说法还有drenching downpour,come down in bucket/sheets,rainstorm,cloudburst,a deluge (of rain)等等。暴雨来临前,北京市气象台发布了blue rainstorm warning(暴雨蓝色预警)。
关于大暴雨,还有一种非常形象的说法,就是rain cats and dogs. 关于这一习语的起源有这样一种解释:During heavy rains in 17th century England, some city streets became raging rivers of filth carrying many cats and dogs.(17世纪的英格兰在下大雨的时候,一些城市的街道就会水流成河,而且这些污水中还会飘浮着大量的死猫死狗。)
传说诺亚建好方舟后,八个人被带到船上。God shut the door and then the heavens opened and outpoured.(神关上了方舟之门,然后天开了,暴雨哗哗临降。)因此我们现在也用the heavens opened来形容下暴雨了,比如:We were waiting at the bus stop when the heavens opened.