A reservoir in Jia county is full of cracks due to lack of rain, Aug. 5, 2014. [Xinhua]
Severe drought has sent river levels in parts of central and northern China to record lows, affecting millions of hectares of farmland and leaving more than a million people short of water.
严重干旱已导致华中和华北部分地区河水水位降至历史最低点，并使数百万公顷农田和一百多万人面临缺水困境。
干旱(drought)似乎是每年夏季都会被提及的一个词。不过，今年我国多地遭遇的严重气象干旱(meteorological drought)为多年少见。其中，河南省6月以来的降水量(precipitation)较往年正常水平低了40%，为63年来最低。
以下总结一些与干旱有关的词汇：
lingering drought 持续干旱
effective precipitation 有效降水
scattered shower 零星阵雨
drought-plagued regions 受旱地区
water discharges 下泄流量
cumulative rainfall 累计雨量
drought alleviation 抗旱
cloud-seeding operation 种云作业
artificial weather intervention 人工天气干预
artificially enhance precipitation 人工增雨
water resources allocation mechanism 水资源分配机制
arid land 干旱土地
water rationing 限时供水
dry up 干涸
dry spell 干旱期
