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 3 Chinese listening practice.
This is an HSK 3-4 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 14 key vocabulary words such as 训练、一般、真的 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
There is a man in America called Peter.
He did something most people would never think of.
A bodybuilding contest means going on stage and letting people look at your muscles.
People who compete usually train for years.
Peter had not trained for a single day.
He took a drug that makes muscle grow, but he did not train.
He also drank heavily every day.
At his worst, he says, he was drinking more than twenty glasses a day.
In the weeks before going on stage he cut back a little — under twelve a day.
No training, the drug, the drink.
All of it went online, every day.
Plenty of people online watched and told him it was a bad idea.
On the eighth of August he really did get to New York, and he really did go on stage.
Counting him, eight men went up.
Seven trained every day; one had not trained a single day.
That morning was the prejudging; the evening was the finals.
After the prejudging there were a few hours in between.
Peter spent those hours drinking.
He drank and drank, and lost track of the time.
By the time it came back to him, the finals were already over.
He never went on stage.
When the scores came out, out of eight men Peter placed eighth.
Eighth — which is to say, last.
Peter himself does not see it that way.
He said: I think my body was the best one up there, or the second best.
He also said he had not shaved properly that day, and thought that may have cost him points.
Now he says he has stopped the drug.
He is going to start training.
He calls himself a "born-again natural".
Think about it: someone who badly wants the result but will not pay for it — is that rare?
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇去比赛的人，一般要训练很多年 = people who compete usually train for years.
一般要训练很多年 = usually need to train for years.
他真的到了纽约 = he really did get to New York.
决赛已经结束了 = the finals were already over.
可能也被扣了分 = it may have cost him points as well.
很想要结果 = badly wants the result.
我觉得我的身体是最好的 = I think my body was the best.
健美比赛，就是上台让人看你的肌肉 = a bodybuilding contest means going on stage and letting people look at your muscles.
能让肌肉长大的药 = a drug that makes muscle grow.
上午是初赛 = the morning was the prejudging round.
晚上是决赛 = the evening was the finals.
彼得的名次是第八 = Peter placed eighth.
最后打分出来 = when the scores came out.
很多网友一边看，一边说他这样不好 = many people online watched and said it was a bad idea.
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法一边……一边……
"doing A while doing B" — two actions at once.
很多网友一边看，一边说他这样不好。
等……的时候
"by the time X happened". Marks a moment that arrived too late.
等他想起来的时候，决赛已经结束了。
也就是
"which is to say" — restates the fact more bluntly.
第八，也就是最后一名。
Proper Nouns
专有名词Sources
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