A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
2:39
哥伦比亚新总统在卡利宣誓：前总统锁了军营，也没来现场
Colombia Swore In a New President in a University Arena. The Old One Locked the Barracks and Stayed Home.
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 9 key vocabulary words such as 国家、听、地方 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 the complete story in Chinese. Reveal pinyin and English only when you need them.
Today we are going to talk about a country.
China is a country.
America is a country too.
The country we are talking about today is called Colombia.
Colombia is not in China, and it is not in America either.
Colombia has a great many people.
Among these people, there is one who is the biggest.
This biggest person — we call him the president.
Who is the president?
The president is a person.
The people of this country all listen to what he says.
Today, Colombia got a new president.
The old president has left.
The new president has come.
When the new president arrives, he has to speak.
When he finishes speaking, everyone knows: he is the president now.
And this — where is it done?
In the past, it was always done in one place.
That place is called Bogotá.
Bogotá is very, very big.
For more than a hundred years, it was done in Bogotá.
Now, it is not in Bogotá any more.
Now, it is in a place called Cali.
The people of Colombia wanted to know too: what happened here?
Listen.
The new president wanted to go to a place with a lot of soldiers.
He wanted to become president there.
A lot of people said: you cannot.
In Colombia, soldiers cannot have a matter this big.
The old president was very angry.
He said: the president listens to the people, not to the soldiers.
He said: the place with soldiers — you cannot go there.
Everyone thought about it for many days, and thought about it again.
Everyone said: go to Cali.
In Cali there is a university.
Inside the university there is a very, very big place.
Today, in that place, the new president became president.
And that old president — did he come?
No.
He did not come.
He was not happy.
A great many people came today.
Some of them came from countries far away.
Think about it: in your country, who is the biggest person?
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
Taught in the episode through China and America.
都听他的话 = they all listen to what he says, i.e. they obey him.
一个叫卡利的地方 = a place called Cali.
大家都知道 = everyone knows.
卡利有一个大学 = there is a university in Cali.
他不高兴 = he was not happy — why he did not come.
Taught in the episode: the person everyone in the country listens to.
有很多兵的地方 = a place with a lot of soldiers — a barracks.
以前的总统很生气 = the outgoing president was very angry.
* beyond level超纲词
……的时候
"when …". The clause goes before it.
新总统来的时候，要说话。
不……，也不……
"neither … nor …". Two negatives in a row.
哥伦比亚不在中国，也不在美国。
V 完
A resultative ending meaning the action is finished.
他说完话，大家都知道：他是总统了。
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