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The US Army Offered Four Days Off to Play GTA 6 — If Soldiers Re-Enlist for Two More Years — episode cover art
2:55

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 2 Chinese listening practice.

This is an HSK 2 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 6 key vocabulary words such as 签、换、条件 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.

今年八月，美国 Georgia 的 Fort Stewart，发了一张纸。
纸上写的东西，很多人看了都笑。
笑完，你会想一想。
先说 GTA 6。
GTA 6 是这几年很大的一个游戏，做它的公司叫 Rockstar。
很多人上中学的时候，就在等 GTA 6。
GTA 6 说过两次要出来。
第一次，晚了一年。
第二次，又晚了半年。
现在说的是：十一月十九号。
大家都说，这次是真的了。
好，现在说军人。
美国的军人，做完几年，可以走。
也可以再签几年，接着做。
再签几年，是很大的一件事。
你要拿两年，换点什么。
八月一号到十四号，这个部队发了一个消息。
消息里的条件很简单：
你再签两年，我们给你四天假。
四天假是哪四天？
十一月二十号，到十一月二十三号。
GTA 6 是十九号出来的，所以那四天，就是 GTA 6 出来以后的四天。
你不用去上班，你在家里玩 GTA 6，玩四天。
这个部队里，有一百三十个士兵可以签。
八月十四号，人数出来了：二十个。
二十个人，用两年，换了四天。
你可以说，这个消息很好笑。
你也可以问一句：为什么是二十个？
一种想法是：他们本来就想再签。
两年他们早就想好了，四天假只是上面多给的一点甜头。
另一种想法是：他们真的很想玩 GTA 6。
一个人二十岁，等一个游戏等了六年，这四天，对他不小。
还有一种想法，最不好听，可是最真：
在部队里，你的时候不是你的。
所以有人给你四天，说这四天你随便用，这四天就很值钱。
这件事最有意思的地方，在最后。
GTA 6 说过两次要出来，两次都没有出来。
如果这次又晚了呢？
那两年还是两年，一天都不会少。
四天呢？
四天写在纸上。
你想一想：
如果有人要买你两年，你要多少天，才卖？
English transcript reference

This August, at Fort Stewart in Georgia, in the United States, a piece of paper went up.

What was written on it made a lot of people laugh.

And once you have laughed, you think.

First, about GTA 6.

GTA 6 is one of the biggest games of the last few years, made by a company called Rockstar.

A lot of people have been waiting for GTA 6 since they were in secondary school.

GTA 6 has twice said it was coming out.

The first time, it was a year late.

The second time, another six months.

The date now is the nineteenth of November.

And everyone says this time it is real.

Good. Now, soldiers.

An American soldier finishes a few years and can leave.

Or he can sign on for a few more years and keep going.

Signing on for more years is a very big thing.

You are giving up two years — you want something back.

From the first to the fourteenth of August, this unit put out a notice.

The terms in it were simple:

Sign on for two more years, and we give you four days off.

Which four days?

The twentieth of November to the twenty-third of November.

GTA 6 comes out on the nineteenth, so those four days are the four days right after GTA 6 arrives.

You do not report for duty; you stay home and play GTA 6, for four days.

In this unit, a hundred and thirty soldiers were eligible to sign.

On the fourteenth of August the number came in: twenty.

Twenty people, trading two years for four days.

You can say this notice is very funny.

You can also ask: why twenty?

One answer is that they were going to sign anyway.

They had decided on the two years long ago, and the four days are just a sweetener from above.

Another answer is that they really do want to play GTA 6.

Someone who is twenty, who has waited six years for a game — for him, four days is not small.

And there is a third answer, the least pleasant one, and the truest:

In the army, your time is not yours.

So when someone gives you four days and says do what you like with them, those four days are worth a great deal.

The most interesting part of this comes at the end.

GTA 6 has twice said it was coming out, and twice it has not.

What if it is late again?

The two years are still two years, and not a day less.

And the four days?

The four days are written on a piece of paper.

Think about it:

If someone wanted to buy two years of your life, how many days would it take before you sold?

Listen again

Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.

What vocabulary does this episode teach?

词汇
qiānto sign

To sign your name on something. Here 签 means signing on for more years of service.

huànto exchange, to swap

The whole story is one 换 — two years exchanged for four days.

tiáojiànterms, conditions

What you must do to get something. The notice’s 条件 was one sentence long.

xiāoxinews, a notice

Information that gets passed along. The unit put out a 消息.

bùduìa military unit

A body of troops. Here, the battalion that made the offer.

shìbīngenlisted soldier

A rank-and-file soldier, as opposed to an officer.

* beyond level超纲词

What grammar patterns appear in this episode?

语法

也可以……

Offers an alternative course: "or you can also …".

也可以再签几年，接着做。 — Or he can sign on for a few more years and keep going.

你也可以明天来。 — You can also come tomorrow.

一种想法是……，另一种想法是……

Lays out two competing explanations side by side.

一种想法是：他们本来就想再签。另一种想法是：他们真的很想玩。 — One view is that they meant to sign anyway. Another is that they really want to play.

Proper Nouns

专有名词
GTA 6GTA 6Grand Theft Auto VI, the video gameRockstarRockstarRockstar Games, the studio that makes itGeorgiaGeorgiaGeorgia, the US stateFort StewartFort StewartFort Stewart, the army post in Georgia

Sources

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