請看報道：
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.
首都國際機場一位發言人稱，截至上週四晚9點，這場傾盆大雨導致144架航班被取消，93架航班延誤超過一小時。
文中的torrential downpour就是“傾盆大雨”，類似的說法還有drenching downpour、come down in bucket/sheets、rainstorm、cloudburst、a deluge (of rain)等等。暴雨來臨前，北京市氣象臺發佈了blue rainstorm warning（暴雨藍色預警）。
關於大暴雨，還有一種非常形象的'說法，就是rain cats and dogs。關於這一習語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世紀的英格蘭在下大雨的時候，一些城市的街道就會水流成河，而且這些污水中還會飄浮着大量的死貓死狗。）
傳說諾亞建好方舟後，八個人被帶到船上。God shut the door and then the heavens opened and outpoured.（神關上了方舟之門，然後天開了，暴雨嘩嘩臨降。）因此我們現在也用the heavens opened來形容下暴雨了，比如：We were waiting at the bus stop when the heavens opened.
