A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
7.4 级地震震塌哥伦比亚西部。废墟下，一个被压住的人说：我这里还有一个孩子。
A Magnitude 7.4 Quake Flattened Western Colombia. Under the Rubble, a Trapped Man Said: 'I'm With a Baby.'
About this story
A Magnitude 7.4 Quake Flattened Western Colombia. Under the Rubble, a Trapped Man Said: 'I'm With a Baby.'. HSK 1 Chinese listening practice.
This is an HSK 1 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 14 key vocabulary words such as 听、听见、手 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
On the tenth of August, there was an earthquake in Colombia.
When the earthquake came, a lot of buildings fell down.
The buildings fell, and people were underneath them.
A lot of people were under the buildings.
People came from above.
They wanted to save the people underneath.
They had nothing big, so they used their hands.
One block. One block. One block.
Very slowly. Very slowly.
The people above stopped talking.
None of them talked, because they wanted to listen.
To listen for whether there was any sound underneath.
Then one of them heard it.
Underneath, there was a sound.
Really — there was a sound.
Underneath, someone was speaking.
The people above asked: how many people are down there?
Are you alone?
The person underneath said: no.
Down here with me, there is a baby.
The moment the people above heard that, they all came over.
Five of them together, working with their hands.
Very slowly. Very slowly. Very slowly.
Then they saw the baby.
The baby was crying out.
One man’s hand, very very slowly, brought the baby out.
The baby was out!
The baby was tiny — very, very tiny.
They shouted for a doctor: quick!
A doctor came and looked at the baby.
The baby was all right.
All five of them were shouting, and all of them were happy.
But it was not over yet.
There was still someone underneath.
Who was the person down there?
It was the man who had said, "down here with me, there is a baby".
He was under the building too, and he could not get out.
His hands had been up the whole time, holding the baby above him.
The people above asked him: what is your name?
He did not say his name.
He did not talk about himself.
What he talked about was the baby.
The five of them went back down.
They wanted to save him too.
Think about it: while he was down there, the one he was thinking about was someone else.
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇他们要听，下面有没有声音 = they wanted to listen for a sound below.
后来，一个人听见了 = then one of them heard it.
他们没有大东西，就用手 = they had nothing big, so they used their hands.
很慢，很慢 = very slowly, very slowly.
人就在房子下面 = people were under the buildings.
他们大声叫医生：快来 = they shouted for a doctor: quick!
快来！ = come quickly!
他没有说自己的名字 = he did not say his name.
八月十号，哥伦比亚地震了 = on the tenth of August there was an earthquake in Colombia.
很多房子都倒了 = a lot of buildings fell down.
房子倒了 = the buildings fell.
他们要救下面的人 = they wanted to save the people underneath.
下面，有声音 = there was a sound underneath.
我这里，还有一个孩子 = down here with me there is a baby.
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法还有……
"there is still / there is also". The whole story turns on this one word: 还有.
我这里，还有一个孩子。
下面还有一个人。
把 + object + V 出来
把 moves the object in front of the verb when you act ON it. 出来 = out toward you.
把孩子拿出来了。
很 + adj，很 + adj
Repeating the adjective is how spoken Chinese slows a moment down.
很慢，很慢。
很小，很小很小。
Proper Nouns
专有名词Sources
来源Free account
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