Ministry urges efforts against spring drought

 　　HARBIN, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Ministry¹ of Agriculture on Saturday urged local agricultural departments to prepare for a possible spring drought in China's northeastern regions.

　　Agricultural authorities at all levels should make early arrangements for spring seeding in the drought-hit regions, rendering² more policy and technology supports, said Chen Mengshan, chief economist³ with the ministry.

　　Northeastern regions have been seeing less rain since last autumn, with precipitation down 30 to 80 percent compared with a normal year, Chen said at a meeting held in Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang Province.

　　The ministry predicted that western parts of northeastern regions will continue to see less rainfall, which will increase chances for a spring drought, while eastern parts may experience low temperatures and rainy weather, posing threats to sowing and planting.

　　Northeastern regions are the country's main grain production areas, with Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning provinces as well as the Inner Mongolia Autonomous⁴ Region yielding 23 percent of the country's total grain output.

1 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

2 rendering   

n.表现，描写

参考例句：

• She gave a splendid rendering of Beethoven's piano sonata.她精彩地演奏了贝多芬的钢琴奏鸣曲。
• His narrative is a super rendering of dialect speech and idiom.他的叙述是方言和土语最成功的运用。

3 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

4 autonomous   

adj.自治的；独立的

参考例句：

• They proudly declared themselves part of a new autonomous province.他们自豪地宣布成为新自治省的一部分。
• This is a matter that comes within the jurisdiction of the autonomous region.这件事是属于自治区权限以内的事务。