CRI听力: Heavy Snow in Beijing

Beijing reported the heaviest snow in six decades yesterday. Today is Monday, the first day people return to work in the New Year. Along with a bit of fun, the heavy snow is bringing some inconvenience to people's lives.

Our reporter Li Dong has more.

At 10 p.m. Sunday, a major meteorological observatory in the southern suburbs of Beijing recorded a snowfall of 10 millimeters, the largest amount in one day since 1951.

For most citizens, the snow definitely brought trouble to their morning commute.

"When I came out this morning, I saw very few buses on the road. Some of my colleagues even came out at 6 am, but still couldn't see buses. It's all because of the snow."

"The impact is noticeable! I can't make it to get the bus this morning. It's too crowded."

Due to the heavy snow, education authorities in Beijing and Tianjin announced classes in primary and middle schools would be suspended on Monday. Jinjing is a grade 3 student. Today, she can do what she wants.

"Both life at home, and at school, are good. I can do whatever I want after I finish my homework. And at school, I can play with my classmates. Considering the traffic, I think suspending the classed today is reasonable."

Those who shop for food everyday saw the effect the weather can have on prices.

"I only bought two kinds of vegetables. One costs 8.8 yuan, the other costs 4.2 yuan. Usually the two may only cost 5 yuan. It's expensive."

A vendor at a wet market says the price of the vegetables rose by about 10 percent.(www.hXen.com)

"The prices of leafy vegetables rose a lot, about 10 percent on average. Yesterday, many people bought vegetables to store at home. There isn't lettuce in the market now. You can't buy it no matter how much money you pay. It's too cold."

The most snow was about 38 millimeters in the city's Huairou district. The downtown areas saw the thickest layer of snow with Shijingshan getting more than 33 millimeters.

For China Drive, I am Li Dong.