A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
3:05
世界杯八强赛：加时连入两球，卫冕冠军阿根廷三比一淘汰瑞士
World Cup Quarter-Final: Two Extra-Time Goals — Holders Argentina Beat Switzerland 3-1
A medium Chinese listening lesson on the World Cup quarter-finals, in spoken style: Mac Allister's opener, Ndoye's equalizer, and then Álvarez and Lautaro strike in extra time against a 10-man Switzerland as holders Argentina win 3-1. Talk on a champion's resilience.
This is an HSK 3-4 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 7 key vocabulary words such as 跌宕起伏、难缠、固若金汤 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.
Read the complete story in Chinese. Reveal pinyin and English only when you need them.
Today let's talk about a roller-coaster World Cup quarter-final: defending champions Argentina beat a stubborn Switzerland three to one in extra time to scrape into the semi-finals.
This is already Argentina's third straight nervy knockout at this World Cup.
First, a word on the two teams.
Argentina are the defending champions from the last World Cup, with the legendary superstar Messi, their quality and pedigree beyond doubt.
Their opponents Switzerland are a very awkward team at this World Cup.
Tightly disciplined and solid in defense, in the last round it was precisely with stubborn defending and a penalty shootout that they knocked out a strong Colombia.
Alright, into the game.
From the start, Argentina showed a champion's quality.
In the tenth minute, Mac Allister took his chance to score, giving Argentina an early one-nil lead.
Yet Switzerland weren't thrown off balance.
With stubborn defending they held firm and patiently waited for their chance.
In the sixty-seventh minute, Ndoye seized a chance to level it for Switzerland — one to one.
Through the rest of regulation, Switzerland's defense was rock-solid, and Argentina could never score again.
After ninety minutes, it was still one to one, and the game went to extra time.
The real turning point came in extra time.
A Switzerland player was sent off with a red card, leaving the team with ten men.
A man down, their defensive line finally began to come under strain.
Seizing the chance, Argentina launched an all-out assault.
In the one-hundred-and-twelfth minute, Álvarez scored to put Argentina back ahead — two to one.
And in the final moments, front-line star Lautaro Martínez scored again, locking it at three to one and killing the game off.
In the end, defending champions Argentina took this tough battle without further scare and marched proudly into the semi-finals.
So, how should this game be judged?
For Argentina, this is again a hard-fought yet hugely crucial win.
From behind to ahead, from a draw to a big win, they once again showed the powerful pedigree and never-give-up will of defending champions.
Even Messi remarked that the team's run this time has been "not normal."
For Switzerland, this defeat is honorable.
With a textbook defensive display, they held the defending champions off for a very long time; if not for that red card, the ending might still have been in the balance.
As a team returning to the quarter-finals for the first time in over seventy years, their display deserves everyone's applause.
That's Argentina three to one Switzerland, a game belonging to the defending champions, and to Messi.
See you next match.
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
过程一波三折。一场跌宕起伏的八强大战。
很不好对付。瑞士是一支非常难缠的球队。
成语。防守极其牢固。此后瑞士的防守固若金汤。
犯规太严重，球员被罚出场。瑞士一名球员被红牌罚下。
变得紧张、顶不住。他们的防线终于开始吃紧。
成语。在已经很好的基础上再添彩。劳塔罗再入一球锦上添花。
长期积累的实力与传统。他们展现了卫冕冠军的底蕴。
* beyond level超纲词
并没有因此而…
'Didn't … because of this' — refusing to be rattled.
瑞士并没有因此而乱了阵脚。
抓住…的机会，…
'Seizing the chance of …, …' — capitalizing on an opening.
抓住这个机会，阿根廷发起了总攻。
若不是…，或许…
'If not for …, perhaps …' — a counterfactual.
若不是那张红牌，结局或许还有悬念。
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