国内英语新闻:Sizzling heat wreaks havoc in China, rains expected Thursday

Weather forecasters said the sweltering heat in northern China would be largely diminished by an expected rainfall on Thursday.

In central and southern China, however, no immediate let up of the heat wave is foreseen.

In Hunan's provincial capital Changsha, a red deer died at a zoo due to a lack of water.

"It has been around 40 degrees Celsius for days, creating so much demand for water that units at the water system's far edges face shortages," Changsha Ecological Zoo official Zheng Chuang told the media.

Pictures of giant pandas crouching on huge ice blocks splashed across newspapers.

While animals were taken care of, governments and firms across the country offered breaks or bonuses for those who labored outdoors.

However, steel workers in Shijiazhuang continued with their work in extremely hot and humid workshops, having rubbed on cooling ointment and sipping cold drinks. Freezers in a steel factory's air-conditioned break room were filled with bottled water, ice cubes and ice cream.

As stipulated by the municipal construction bureau, construction workers in Shijiazhuang have stopped working from noon to 2 p.m. to prevent heat fatigue.

But a Xinhua reporter found the temperature at a residential building construction site reached 44 degrees Celsius at 3:30. Some workers said they still could not bear the heat even after 2 p.m.