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