A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
他打类固醇、一天喝二十多杯、一次都没练。健美比赛首秀，他拿了最后一名。
He Took Steroids, Drank 24 a Day and Never Trained Once. At His First Bodybuilding Contest, He Came Last.
About this story
He Took Steroids, Drank 24 a Day and Never Trained Once. At His First Bodybuilding Contest, He Came Last. 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 13 key vocabulary words such as 身体、想、喝 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
This is a story about one man.
His name is Peter.
Peter wanted to enter a contest.
In this contest, they look at whose body is best.
If you want a good body, you train every day.
Every day. Every day. Every day.
But Peter did not want to train.
Not for a single day.
He thought: what if I do not train — can that work?
So then he took a drug.
This drug makes the body a little bigger.
He took this drug every day.
But he did not train.
Not for a single day.
He also drank every day — a great deal of it.
How much in one day?
A great deal.
No training. The drug. The drink.
Every day Peter posted all of this online.
A great many people watched him online.
They asked Peter: do you train?
Peter said: I do not train.
They said: not even for one day?
Peter said: not even for one day.
On the eighth of August, the contest began.
Peter went up on stage.
There were eight men on the stage.
All eight stood on the stage and let everyone look at their bodies.
Of those eight, seven trained every day.
One did not train.
That one was Peter.
The morning round finished, and there was another one in the afternoon.
Between the morning and the afternoon, where did Peter go?
He went off to drink.
He drank, and he drank a lot.
He lost track of what time it was.
By the time he came back, the afternoon round was over.
Peter never went on stage.
In the end, out of eight men, Peter was the eighth.
Eight men — and he was the eighth.
The eighth is the last one.
Now Peter says: I have stopped that drug.
I am going to start training.
Think about it: is there something you badly want, but do not want to work for?
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇这个比赛，看谁的身体好 = in this contest they look at whose body is best.
彼得想去一个比赛 = Peter wanted to enter a contest.
他也天天喝酒 = he also drank every day.
他天天吃这个药 = he took this drug every day.
让大家看他们的身体 = let everyone look at their bodies.
他不知道现在几点了 = he lost track of what time it was.
八个人里，彼得是第八个 = out of eight men, Peter was the eighth.
身体想好，就天天练 = if you want a good body, you train every day.
彼得想去一个比赛 = Peter wanted to enter a contest.
这个药，让身体大一点 = this drug makes the body a little bigger.
他也天天喝酒 = he drank every day.
彼得上了台 = Peter went up on stage.
第八个，就是最后一个 = the eighth is the last one.
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法一天，也不……
"not even for one day". 也 after a minimal amount makes the negative absolute.
一天，也不想练。
一天，也不练。
想 + verb
"want to do X". The engine of the whole story — he wanted the result, not the work.
彼得想去一个比赛。
身体想好，就天天练。
第 + number
第 turns a number into a rank: 八 = eight, 第八 = eighth.
彼得是第八个。
第八个，就是最后一个。
Proper Nouns
专有名词Sources
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