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.