A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
"北方之王"伯纳姆：从市长，到英国首相
Andy Burnham Becomes Britain's Seventh PM in a Decade
About this story
Andy Burnham Becomes Britain's Seventh PM in a Decade. 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 9 key vocabulary words such as 重要、希望、喜欢 and walks through 2 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
Today, we're talking about a British man.
His name is Burnham.
Recently, he's become a very important person in Britain.
Burnham is from the north of England.
In Britain, many rich and famous people are in London, in the south.
But Burnham has always stood on the side of northerners.
So people in the north really like him.
People even gave him a nickname: "King of the North."
In Britain, the country's top leader is called the "Prime Minister."
Many years ago, Burnham already wanted to be Prime Minister.
But he tried twice, and both times he failed.
Later, he went to a big city called Manchester.
He became the Mayor of Manchester.
As mayor, he did a lot.
He helped many ordinary people.
Little by little, he became more and more famous.
Recently, Britain's Prime Minister decided to step down.
He's leaving, and the Labour Party has to pick a new leader.
Labour is one of Britain's major parties.
Whoever leads Labour gets to be Prime Minister.
This time, many people thought of Burnham.
Burnham finally succeeded.
Labour chose him as its new leader.
Soon, he'll be Britain's Prime Minister.
From mayor to Prime Minister, it took Burnham many years.
He failed both times before; this time, he made it.
A northerner is going to London to become Britain's top leader.
In Britain, this is a big deal.
In recent years, Britain has changed Prime Ministers many times.
In about ten years, it's had seven of them.
Many British people hope Burnham will be different.
They hope he can make Britain better.
The King of the North has arrived.
OK, that's it for today — see you next time.
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Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇他成了英国很重要的一个人 — he’s become a very important person in Britain.
很多英国人希望，伯纳姆能不一样 — many Britons hope Burnham will be different.
北方的人，都很喜欢他 — people in the north all like him.
大家还给了他一个名字 — people gave him a nickname.
希望伯纳姆能不一样 — they hope Burnham can be different.
Beyond HSK 1-2. 国家的大领导，叫"首相" — the country’s top leader is the "Prime Minister."
Beyond HSK 1-2. 他当了曼彻斯特的市长 — he became Mayor of Manchester.
Beyond HSK 1-2. 工党，是英国的一个大党 — Labour is one of Britain’s major parties.
Beyond HSK 1-2. 慢慢地，他越来越有名 — little by little, he grew more famous.
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法从 A 到 B
"from A to B" — marks a span or transition.
从市长，到首相，伯纳姆用了很多年。
谁... 谁就...
"whoever does X, that same person...) — links a condition to its result.
谁当了工党的领导，谁就能当首相。
Proper nouns
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