A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
纽约布鲁克林一座公寓楼倒塌，八人遇难
An Apartment Building Collapses in Brooklyn, New York, Killing Eight
About this story
An apartment building in Brooklyn, New York, fell down on 11 November 2026. Eight people died, two of them children, and 18 were hurt. The city is looking into why. HSK 2 Chinese listening practice.
This is an HSK 2 Chinese listening episode that runs about 1 minute. 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 12 key vocabulary words such as 楼、倒、旁边 and walks through 6 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 Wednesday afternoon, a building in New York fell down.
It was about four o'clock.
The building was in Brooklyn.
The building had three floors, people lived in it, and it was nearly a hundred years old.
The building fell onto the building site next to it.
A building site is a place where workers build new houses.
Eight people died.
Six were adults.
Two were children.
Of the adults, two were workers on the building site.
Another 18 people were hurt.
Of the people who were hurt, four were firefighters.
Many people came to help, more than 250.
On Thursday afternoon, the work of looking for people was finished.
The firefighters said there was nobody left inside.
Why the building fell is still being looked into.
The people looking into it are the people in the city who are in charge of buildings.
And the police.
The building site next door now has to stop work.
Several companies are connected with this building site.
They have about a hundred more building sites in New York.
These sites will now be checked too, one by one.
People who have lost their homes can go to a place nearby.
There are people there to help them.
The mayor said: "We will find out what happened."
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇HSK 1. A building with several floors. Measure word: 座 (zuò).
HSK 2. Used for a building or a tree falling: 楼倒了.
HSK 1. 旁边的工地 means the site next door.
HSK 1. 工 (work) + 人 (person).
HSK 2. The opposite of 孩子 (child).
HSK 1. Common word for a child.
HSK 2. 还在查 means it is still being looked into.
Beyond the HSK 1 to 5 lists. The script explains it: the place where workers build new houses.
HSK 3. 受 (receive) + 伤 (injury).
Beyond the HSK 1 to 5 lists. Here they are the people who came to save others.
HSK 3. In the script the police help look into the cause.
HSK 4. 附近的一个地方 means a place close by.
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法Verb + 着
着 after a verb shows a state that continues: people were living inside.
里面住着人
差不多 + 有 + Number
差不多 means 'about' or 'nearly' before an amount.
它差不多有一百年了
Group + 里，有 + Number + 是 + Noun
Picks out some members of a group that was just mentioned.
大人里，有两个是工地上的工人。
受伤的人里，有四个是消防员。
还在 + Verb
Says an action is still going on.
楼为什么会倒，现在还在查。
一个一个地 + Verb
Doing something one at a time. 地 links the manner to the verb.
这些工地，现在也要一个一个地查。
Verb + 完了
完 after a verb means the action is finished.
星期四下午，找人的工作做完了。
Proper nouns
专有名词Free account
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