Raining cats and dogs 表示雨下得非常大。猫狗从天上掉下来的荒诞画面，让雨势更容易记住。这条习语广为人知，但日常说来有些老派，或像在开玩笑；人们更常说 It's pouring，英国也常说 It's bucketing down。IELTS Speaking 中可以带着轻松语气使用，不过 It's pouring 更自然；IELTS 作文不宜使用这条习语。
什么情境适合说 raining cats and dogs？
写一句英语，检查习语是否适合当前情境，以及哪里需要修改。
本次检查比平时稍久，完成后反馈会自动显示在这里。
It's raining cats and dogs.; it + is/was + raining cats and dogs; it rained cats and dogs + time
- Take an umbrella. It's raining cats and dogs out there.
- It rained cats and dogs all afternoon, so we cancelled the picnic and watched a film.
- By the time we reached the campsite, it was raining cats and dogs.
修改原因
修改前We can't leave yet because is raining cats and dogs.
修改后We can't leave yet because it's raining cats and dogs.
英语描述天气的句子需要形式主语 it，例如 it's raining、it's cold、it's getting dark。这个 it 不指具体事物，因此容易漏写，但缺少它，句子就不完整。修改只补上 it，把 is 改为 it's。
这条习语只描述大雨。小雨或毛毛雨可以用 drizzle：It's only drizzling, so we don't need an umbrella。普通的下雨是 It's raining；雨很大时可说 It's pouring。
动手练习
My umbrella was useless: it was ___, and my shoes were full of water within minutes.
查看答案
raining cats and dogs — 伞不管用，鞋子几分钟就进了水，说明雨势很大，所以选 raining cats and dogs。Drizzling 是毛毛雨，不符合这里很快就湿透的情景。
描述一次遇上大雨的经历，可以是在旅途、度假或上班途中。交代地点，以及雨让哪些安排发生了变化。
On our last day in Edinburgh, it was raining cats and dogs, so we skipped the castle tour and spent the afternoon in a café.
练习把新词用准确
用正在学的词造句。LetsWords 检查用法和语法，提供修改与母语解释，再通过复习巩固。