A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
美国陆军开价：再服役两年，换四天假去打《侠盗猎车手6》
The US Army Offered Four Days Off to Play GTA 6 — If Soldiers Re-Enlist for Two More Years
About this story
The US Army Offered Four Days Off to Play GTA 6 — If Soldiers Re-Enlist for Two More Years. HSK 1 Chinese listening practice.
This is an HSK 1 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 6 key vocabulary words such as 年、玩、回家 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
On the nineteenth of November, a very big new game is coming.
A lot of people love this game.
Everyone has waited for years, and years.
This game has said twice: I am coming.
Both times it did not come.
Now everyone says: this time it is real.
Good. Now let us talk about American soldiers.
An American soldier serves a few years, and then he can go home.
Or he can not go home, and serve a few more years.
Serving a few more years — anyone would have to think about that.
This August, soldiers in one place saw a piece of paper.
The paper said:
Serve two more years, and we will give you four days off.
Four days off.
Which four days?
The twentieth of November to the twenty-third of November.
That is the four days right after the new game arrives.
Those four days, you do not work.
You stay home and play that game, for four days.
In that place there are a hundred and thirty soldiers who could take it.
Twenty of them said: yes.
Twenty people.
For four days off, they will serve two more years.
Think about it:
Which is bigger — four days, or two years?
Four days is small. Two years is big.
And still they said yes.
Why?
Maybe they were going to serve a few more years anyway, and four days off is just a happy extra.
Maybe they love that game far too much, and want too badly to play it.
Maybe, to them, four days is four days — being able to play is already good.
And here is one more thing, which is interesting.
That game has twice said it was coming, and twice it did not come.
What if it does not come this time either?
Two years is a real two years.
Four days is four days on a piece of paper.
Think about it:
For two years of your life, how many days off would you want?
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇The whole episode is a trade between 天 (days) and 年 (years) — four days against two years.
What you do with a game. 玩游戏 = to play a game.
回 is to return, 家 is home. A soldier finishes his years and can 回家.
Days when you do not work. 四天假 = four days off.
Literally "military person".
A video game here. 玩游戏 is the standard collocation.
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法A 大，还是 B 大？
Asks which of two things is bigger. 还是 is "or" inside a question.
四天大，还是两年大？ — Which is bigger, four days or two years?
你去，还是我去？ — Do you go, or do I?
For the sake of; states the purpose of an action.
他们为了四天假，再做两年。 — For four days off, they serve two more years.
为了你，我等了很久。 — For your sake I waited a long time.
Proper Nouns
专有名词Sources
来源Free account
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