A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
苹果第一部折叠 iPhone，9 月 9 日发布：新 CEO 上任第八天的第一场大考
Foldable iPhone Is Apple's New CEO's First Test
About this story
Apple unveils its first foldable iPhone on September 9 — a 5.3-inch phone that opens into a 7.8-inch screen for $2,000, and the first launch under new CEO John Ternus, eight days after taking over from Tim Cook. Chinese listening practice at four levels. HSK 1 Chinese listening practice.
This is an HSK 1 Chinese listening episode that runs about 3 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 苹果、水果、书 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 know apples?
An apple is a fruit.
You can buy apples, and you can eat apples.
A lot of people like eating apples.
But today, we are not talking about that apple.
The apple we are talking about today cannot be eaten.
The Apple we are talking about today is a company.
Inside the company, a lot of people work.
This company is very, very big.
This company makes phones.
A phone is the thing you make calls with.
Do you have a phone?
Most people have a phone.
Your phone — you are looking at it too.
You can make calls, you can watch films, you can read words.
A great many people buy Apple's phones.
On September the ninth, Apple is going to announce something new.
This new thing is also a phone.
But this phone is not like your phone.
Listen.
Your phone cannot get bigger, and it cannot get smaller.
This new phone can be big, and it can be small.
It can open, and it can close.
When it is open, the phone is big.
When it is closed, the phone is small.
What does that make you think of?
That's right — a book.
Your book can open, and it can close.
When it is open, the book is big.
When it is closed, the book is small.
This new phone works just like that.
It is like a book.
When the phone is small, you can carry it with you.
You can make calls, and you can check the time.
When the phone is big, you can watch films.
When it is big, you can read a lot of words.
One phone, two sizes.
A lot of people want this phone.
So how much does this new phone cost?
Two thousand dollars.
Two thousand dollars is a great deal of money.
A lot of people cannot buy it.
Some people say: too expensive, I am not buying it.
Some people say: I really want one, I am going to buy it.
Apple the company has one more new thing.
This company has a new boss.
On September the first, he started work.
On September the ninth, he is going to present this new phone.
From the first to the ninth — how many days is that?
Eight days.
He works for eight days, and then he has to speak.
A lot of people are watching him.
They want to know: is this new boss any good?
In the past, Apple did not make a phone like this.
Other companies made them; Apple did not.
Apple said: we want to think about it.
They thought about it for many years.
Now Apple is going to do it.
Think about it: a phone that costs two thousand dollars.
Would you buy it?
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇HSK 1. The episode opens on the double meaning: 苹果是一个水果 — and it is also the name of the company.
HSK 1. Used to separate the two meanings: 苹果是一个水果，可是今天说的苹果不能吃。
HSK 1. The whole episode explains the folding phone through this one image: 它像一本书。
HSK 1. The closing question turns on it: 你买不买？
HSK 1. 两千块美元，是很多很多钱 — the price is the episode's second hook.
HSK 1. What the big screen is for: 手机大的时候，你可以看电影。
HSK 2, above the HSK 1 floor. Grounded in the script with HSK 1 words: 手机，是打电话的东西。
HSK 2. Taught as 公司里，有很多人工作 — which is how the fruit becomes a company.
The person at the centre of the second half: 这个公司，有一个新老板。
HSK 2. The reaction to the price: 太贵了，我不买。
Needed for the number the episode keeps returning to: 两千块美元。
The word that carries the central comparison: 它像一本书。
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法可以 A，也可以 B
Lists two things that are both possible. The 也 in the second half is what ties them together — English would just repeat "can".
你可以买苹果，也可以吃苹果。
它可以开，也可以关。
这个新手机，可以大，也可以小。
……的时候
Marks when something is true. It attaches to the END of the clause, where English puts "when" at the front.
开的时候，这个手机很大。
关的时候，这个手机很小。
手机小的时候，你可以拿着走。
A 像 B
Says A resembles B. This is the sentence the whole episode is built to earn.
它像一本书。
Proper nouns
专有名词Sources
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