A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
世界杯淘汰赛：一比一后点球大战，埃及淘汰澳大利亚
Egypt Beats Australia on World Cup Penalties
About this story
An easy Chinese listening lesson on the World Cup knockouts: Ashour's header, an own-goal equalizer, and a 1-1 draw before Egypt win the penalty shootout to knock out Australia. HSK 2 vocabulary on a shootout, an own goal, and heartbreak.
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 7 key vocabulary words such as 开始、特别、但是 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 at your level
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 very cruel World Cup knockout game: Australia and Egypt drew one to one, and in the end Egypt won the penalty shootout.
First, a word on the two teams.
Egypt has a big star named Salah, one of the most famous players in the world.
Australia may not have as many big names, but they work very hard and never give up.
Alright, let's look at the game.
Not long after kickoff, Egypt scored first.
The scorer is named Ashour, who headed in a lovely goal.
Zero to one, Egypt led.
Australia were behind, but they didn't panic.
Later, a chance came.
One of Egypt's players accidentally knocked the ball into his own goal.
Just like that, Australia leveled the score at one to one.
After that, both teams wanted to win, but neither could score again.
The ninety minutes ended still at one to one.
They played extra time too, and the score still didn't change.
So what do they do?
It could only be settled by a penalty shootout.
A penalty shootout is where the two teams take penalties one by one, and whoever scores more wins.
At this point, the atmosphere was extremely tense.
Two of Australia's players failed to score.
Egypt, meanwhile, were very steady and converted them one by one.
In the end, Egypt won the shootout and advanced to the next round.
This was Australia's first-ever penalty shootout at a World Cup, and sadly they lost.
So, how should we view this game?
For Egypt, this is a nervy win; they withstood enormous pressure.
Salah and his teammates can carry on their World Cup journey.
For Australia, losing is a great shame, and very painful.
They fought to the very last moment, they were just a little unlucky.
A penalty shootout is sometimes this cruel.
But their tenacious display equally deserves respect.
That's Egypt knocking out Australia on penalties, a game that breaks your heart.
See you next match.
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇HSK 1-2. to start / to begin.
HSK 1-2. special; especially.
HSK 1-2. but; however.
HSK 1-2. although / even though.
打平后两队一个一个踢点球来决胜负。最后埃及靠点球大战赢了。
分数更多、走在前面。零比一，埃及领先了。
分数更少、在后面。澳大利亚落后了。
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法虽然…，但是…
'Although…, but…' — a concessive contrast.
澳大利亚虽然没有那么多大牌，但是他们非常努力。
只能…了
'Can only … then' — the sole remaining option.
加时也打平了，只能踢点球大战了。
拼到了最后一刻
'Fought to the very last moment' — total commitment.
他们拼到了最后一刻，只是运气差了一点。
Proper nouns
专有名词Free account
Keep learning from this story
Create a free account to keep saved words and your preferred level together.
- Keep words with their story context
- Remember your preferred level
- Build your vocabulary over time