A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels

基因编辑的树能救佛罗里达的柑橘吗?
Could Gene-Edited Trees Save Florida's Citrus Industry From Greening?
About this story
Florida growers lose their citrus to a disease, then wait to see whether a company's new gene-edited trees can bring the fruit back. HSK 2 Chinese listening practice.
This is an HSK 2 Chinese listening episode that runs about 4 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 12 key vocabulary words such as 水果、看、人 and walks through 4 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
In Florida, many people grow fruit.
The fruit here is very good.
In 2003, there was a lot of fruit here.
Many people had money.
In 2005, a disease came.
The disease is very small.
People cannot see it.
The disease can fly.
A small insect can fly.
The small insect makes the trees sick.
The disease is in this tree.
The disease is also in that tree.
The trees are sick, and the fruit is bad.
When the fruit is bad, people have no money.
Many trees were gone.
In 2015, one man's company was gone.
His family had grown fruit for many years.
His father grew fruit, and he grew fruit too.
His father's father also grew fruit.
Many people here knew them.
They said their fruit was very good.
In 2003, they had a lot of fruit.
In 2015, their company was gone.
He watched the trees get worse year after year.
He was very unhappy.
His job was gone too.
Now he works here.
There are many new trees here.
These trees are the company's new trees.
In 2026, the United States said yes.
An American company made these new trees.
The company's people say these trees are not afraid of the disease.
He has looked at these trees for many years.
Some trees are big, with many leaves.
Some trees are small, with yellow leaves.
He says, look at the trees here.
The leaves on the trees here are very big.
The tree beside it is small.
The tree beside it has yellow leaves.
He says the disease is in the tree beside it.
The disease is inside the tree, where people cannot see it.
There is no medicine for this disease.
The tree cannot get better.
People cannot help the tree with this disease.
Yellow leaves mean disease.
The new trees' leaves are not yellow.
The new trees have many leaves.
The tree beside them has few leaves.
The fruit looks bad.
The fruit's color is bad.
After a few years, the tree is gone.
The new trees are not afraid of this disease.
The company's people say the new trees are very good.
But the new trees need many years.
The fruit needs many years.
One year, two years, many years.
At ten years, the tree has fruit.
Only at ten years will we know.
After ten years, will the fruit be good?
Will the fruit taste good?
Now the trees are good.
No one knows whether the fruit will be good.
This company is called Soilcea.
This man is called Ron English.
He looks at the trees and the leaves here.
After ten years, will people be able to eat this fruit?
He says they need to watch for many years.
The people of Florida also need to watch for many years.
Can these trees make Florida's fruit good again?
After ten years, will Florida have fruit?
Is ten years a long time?
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇HSK 1. 水果 is the general word for fruit; here it means Florida's citrus crop.
HSK 1. 看树 can mean to look at the trees or to look after them.
HSK 1. 很多人 = many people.
HSK 1. 水果很好 = the fruit is very good.
HSK 1. 新树 = new trees.
HSK 1. 小虫 = a small insect.
HSK 1. 很多年 = many years.
HSK 1. 他的工作也没有了 = his job was gone too.
Beyond HSK 1. The disease in the story is citrus greening.
Beyond HSK 1. Here it means the sprays growers use against pests and disease.
Beyond HSK 1. Soilcea is the company in the story.
Beyond HSK 1. 小虫 = the tiny insect that spreads the disease.
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法有 + 宾语
有 means 'have' or 'there is'. 很多人有钱 = many people had money.
很多人有钱。
会 + 动词
会 before a verb means 'can' or 'will'. 这种病会飞 = the disease can fly.
这种病会飞。
一种小虫会飞。
要 + 时间
要 plus a length of time means something needs that much time.
新树要很多年。
水果要很多年。
没有 + 名词
没有 means 'not have' or 'there is no ...'.
水果不好,人没有钱。
这种病,没有药。
Proper nouns
专有名词Sources
来源- Could trees developed with gene-editing technology protect Florida's citrus industry? — NPR
- New Citrus Tool to Help Prevent Widespread Loss of Citrus Crops and Support America's Food Supply — U.S. EPA
- EPA approves Soilcea's CarriCea T1: The first CRISPR-edited rootstock to offer greening tolerance for Florida citrus — FreshFruitPortal
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