A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
厄尔尼诺来了：为什么天气会变？
El Niño Is Here: Why Is the Weather Changing?
About this story
El Niño Is Here: Why Is the Weather Changing? 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 10 key vocabulary words such as 天气、热、冷 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
Today, let's talk about the weather.
The weather changes.
Sometimes, the weather is very hot.
Sometimes, the weather is not hot.
Sometimes, it rains a lot.
Sometimes, it doesn't rain.
Why does the weather change?
There are many, many reasons.
Today, we'll talk about one.
Far, far away, there is a big sea.
This sea is very, very big.
In the sea, there is a lot of water.
Sometimes, the water in the sea is cold.
Sometimes, the water in the sea gets warm.
Right now, the water in the sea has gotten warm.
When the sea water gets warm, the weather changes too.
The sea water getting warm has a name.
The name is El Niño.
What is El Niño?
The water in the sea has gotten warm.
When the sea water gets warm, the weather changes too.
When the sea water gets warm, the weather in many places changes.
Some places get a lot of rain.
With so much rain, there's too much water.
Some places get very, very hot.
And in other places, there's very little water.
Too little water is also bad.
Some places get too much rain.
With too much rain, there's even water in the house.
And in other places, there's no rain at all.
With no rain, people and things have no water.
When the weather goes bad, there's less food too.
So everyone has to watch the weather.
This El Niño is big.
So the weather now will be very different.
Many places will be very hot.
The Earth will be very hot too.
Many years ago, there were El Niños too.
But this one is especially big.
Scientists say: everyone should be careful.
When the weather changes, people should be careful.
When it's too hot, people should drink more water.
When there's too much rain, be careful too.
El Niño is not a bad thing.
El Niño is a change in the weather.
But when El Niño comes, the weather changes.
Knowing this, we can prepare well.
Okay, today we talked about El Niño.
The sea water gets warm, and the weather changes.
This time, El Niño is big.
Everyone should be very careful.
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇HSK 1. weather. 天气会变 = the weather changes.
HSK 1. hot. 天气很热 = the weather is very hot.
HSK 1. cold. 海里的水是冷的 = the sea water is cold.
HSK 1. water. 海里有很多水 = there is a lot of water in the sea.
HSK 1. to watch. 大家都要看天气 = everyone must watch the weather.
HSK 1. to drink. 天太热，人要多喝水 = when it is hot, drink more water.
The topic. 海水变热，叫厄尔尼诺 = warming sea water is called El Niño.
Rain. 有的地方会下很多雨 = some places get a lot of rain.
A change. 厄尔尼诺是天气的一个变化 = El Niño is a change in the weather.
The Earth. 地球也会很热 = the Earth gets hot too.
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法一 + 动词/形容词，就/也...
"As soon as / once..." — one thing immediately brings another.
海里的水一热，天气也会变。
天气一变，人要小心。
有的...还有的...
"Some... and others..." — contrasts different cases.
有的地方会下很多雨。还有的地方，水会很少。
要 + 动词
"Should / need to" do something.
大家要小心。
人要多喝水。
Proper Nouns
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