A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
天上掉快递：亚马逊无人机让得州小城居民受不了
Boxes Falling From the Sky: Amazon's Delivery Drones Are Driving a Texas Suburb Up the Wall
About this story
Richardson, a Dallas suburb, is one of the first US cities where Amazon is testing Prime Air. Dozens of 83-pound drones a day hover over yards and drop boxes; one dropped a package in a pool, another hit an apartment building. Residents call it a 'drone highway' and hate the noise and cameras — while Amazon plans 100 more towns. 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 声音、问题、公司 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
Do you buy things online?
I've bought lots of things online.
Who brings the things I buy?
Usually, it's a person who drives them over.
But now, in a small American city, things arrive by air.
Is it a plane?
It's not a plane, it's a drone.
A drone is a flying machine with nobody inside.
This small city is called Richardson, in the American state of Texas.
Amazon is trying out drone deliveries here.
Every day, dozens of drones fly back and forth over this small city.
These drones are big and heavy, more than thirty kilograms.
The drone flies over your home and slowly comes down a little.
Then it drops the thing you bought from above.
Do the people in this small city like the drones?
Lots of them don't.
They say the sky over their homes is now a "drone road."
One person said: I work from home, and every day I can hear the drones.
Another person said: the drones fly in the morning, they fly in the afternoon, they fly all day long.
Some people don't like the drones' noise.
Some people don't like the cameras on the drones, because they often fly over their homes.
One person said: today is Sunday, can't we have one quiet day?
The drones have had problems, too.
One drone dropped a package into a swimming pool.
Another drone flew into a big building.
Some people phoned Amazon, but it didn't help.
Amazon says lots of customers love the drones.
Amazon also says that later, a hundred more cities will get drone deliveries.
Funnily enough, one woman who doesn't like the drones has a daughter who wanted to make something to eat, but there was no meat at home.
So her daughter bought meat online, and a drone brought it.
If drones flew over your home every day, how would you feel?
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇HSK 2. 每天都能听到无人机的声音.
HSK 2. 无人机也出过问题.
HSK 2. 亚马逊公司.
HSK 2. 用无人机送东西.
HSK 1. 她女儿想做吃的.
HSK 1. 今天是星期天.
一种会飞的机器，里面没有人.
机 (machine) + 器 (device).
HSK 3. 很大，也很重.
HSK 3. 从上面扔下来.
HSK 3. 我们能不能安静一天？
游泳 (swim) + 池 (pool).
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法试着 + verb
To try doing something.
亚马逊公司在这里试着用无人机送东西。
verb + 过
Has happened before.
无人机也出过问题。
……，因为……
Gives the reason after the statement.
有的人不喜欢无人机上面的相机，因为它们常常从自己家上面飞过。
Proper Nouns
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