北京降下60年來最晚的初雪

A light snowfall dusted Beijing and northern provinces Thursday, giving the capital its first precipitation since November and marking the latest date for the city's first snow in six decades. Authorities credited the snowfall to a government cloud-seeding effort, which was undertaken in response to fears that the drought will damage the year's winter wheat crop and drive up food prices.

However the snowfall was not considered sufficient to make much difference to the crop. The government said Wednesday it will spend $1 billion to boost grain production, divert water, build emergency wells and take other steps. Weather forecasters said much of Thursday's snowfall missed hard-hit Shandong province, a major wheat-producing region. Officials say if there is no precipitation this month, it will be the province's worst drought in 200 years.

中國的北京和北方各省星期四飄起了小雪。這是中國首都自11月以來第一次降雪，也是北京60年來冬季裏最晚的第一場雪。當局將這場降雪歸功於政府進行的人工降水的努力。這是對人們擔心乾旱會影響今年冬小麥的收成，擡高糧食價格所作出的迴應。

但是，這場降雪並不足以對冬小麥起到很大的作用。中國政府星期三表示，中國將斥資10億美元增加糧食生產、調水、營建應急井，並採取其它措施。天氣預報說，星期四的大部分降雪沒有覆蓋旱情嚴重的主要小麥產區山東省。官員們說，如果這個月仍沒有降水，山東將經歷200年來最嚴重的乾旱。