A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
多动症，也许根本不是“注意力”的问题
ADHD May Not Be a Problem of 'Attention' at All
About this story
Psychiatrist Awais Aftab argues ADHD is less a deficit of attention than of sustained engagement. A study in Cell found stimulants act on the brain's reward and salience networks, not its attention networks, making homework and laundry feel worth doing. From a 1992 waiting experiment to 'time blindness', and why the name misleads. Chinese listening practice at four levels. HSK 2 Chinese listening practice.
This is an HSK 2 Chinese listening episode that runs about 2 minutes. The full Mandarin script is shown with tap-for-pinyin and a line-by-line English translation, so you can listen and read at once — comprehensible input in the sense of Stephen Krashen's i+1 theory. It teaches 12 key vocabulary words such as 注意、药、问题 and walks through 3 grammar patterns, each explained in English with examples. The same news story is retold at 4 difficulty levels — use the level selector above to find the version that is challenging but still understandable for you.
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原文Read the complete story in Chinese. Reveal pinyin and English only when you need them.
English transcript reference
When you study or work, can you keep going?
Some people find it hard to finish anything.
They often forget things, they're often late, and their rooms are messy.
More and more people think they have ADHD.
ADHD's full name is "attention deficit hyperactivity disorder," and the name contains the word "attention."
So lots of people think ADHD's problem is simply not being able to pay attention.
Lots of people with ADHD take medicine, and with it they're better able to sit down and get things done.
But a psychiatrist named Aftab says: ADHD might not be a problem of "attention."
Last year, an important study looked at how children's brains changed after they took the medicine.
Scientists found that after taking it, the part of the brain in charge of "attention" didn't change.
What changed were the parts in charge of "reward" and "is this important or not."
This doctor says the medicine actually makes the brain feel that boring things like homework and laundry are worth doing too.
This doctor says what's really hard for people with ADHD is keeping at something that isn't interesting.
This can also explain why the medicine calms down many children who can't sit still.
Because once things are interesting, children don't need to look for interesting things somewhere else.
More than thirty years ago, a psychologist did an experiment.
The psychologist let children choose: take a small gift right away, or wait a while and take a big gift.
It turned out that children often chose the small gift because they didn't want to wait.
This doctor says that because the name contains "attention," lots of people don't know that being late, getting angry easily, and not doing things until the last minute might also be related to ADHD.
But this doctor also says ADHD is real, and treatment helps.
Life today has lots of phones and internet, which makes it harder for many people to keep at one thing.
Do you think phones today make it harder for you to keep at one thing?
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇HSK 2. 多动症的问题，就是不能注意？
HSK 2. 吃了药，他们更能坐下来做事.
HSK 2. 可能不是“注意”的问题.
HSK 2. 坐不住的孩子.
HSK 2. 现在的手机.
HSK 2. 他们常常忘了东西.
迟 (late) + 到 (arrive).
大脑有什么变化.
管“奖励”的地方.
HSK 3. 做作业、洗衣服这样无聊的事.
HSK 4. 做了一个实验.
马上拿一个小礼物.
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法越来越多的 + noun
More and more…
越来越多的人觉得，自己有多动症。
verb + 完
To finish doing something.
有的人很难做完一件事。
让 + someone + feel/do
To make someone feel or do something.
这位医生说，这些药其实是让大脑觉得：做作业、洗衣服这样无聊的事，也值得做。
Proper nouns
专有名词Free account
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