A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
American Airlines 的电脑坏了，飞机都飞不了
American Airlines Grounded by Technical Fault
About this story
A simple beginner Chinese listening story: American Airlines' computers broke, so its planes couldn't fly, passengers were stuck, and everyone was frustrated until it was fixed. HSK 1 Chinese listening practice.
This is an HSK 1 Chinese listening episode that runs about 1 minute. 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 8 key vocabulary words such as 电脑、飞机、坐 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
American Airlines is a very big American company.
American Airlines has a great many planes.
Every day, many people fly on American Airlines' planes.
One time, the company's computers broke.
With the computers broken, none of the planes could fly.
Many people at the airport couldn't go anywhere.
They wanted to fly, but the planes weren't flying.
Everyone had to wait, and everyone was upset.
Now, the computers are fixed.
The planes can fly again.
Many people's flights were late.
The people flying were all unhappy.
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇公司的电脑坏了 = the company's computers broke.
有很多飞机 = has many planes.
坐飞机 = to take a plane.
走不了 = couldn't go.
他们想坐飞机 = they wanted to fly.
一个很大的美国公司 = a big American company.
大家都要等 = everyone had to wait.
很多人的飞机都晚了 = many flights were late.
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法都不能……
都不能 + verb = "none can / all cannot".
飞机都不能飞。
想 + verb
想 + verb = "want to (do)".
他们想坐飞机，飞机不飞。
又……了
又 … 了 = "… again".
飞机能飞了。
Proper nouns
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