A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
三十万家停电，抢修队半夜出去查线，被人开了两枪。一颗子弹卡在座位头枕后面。
Power Repair Crew Shot At During Gary Outage
About this story
Power Repair Crew Shot At During Gary Outage. HSK 1 Chinese listening practice.
This is an HSK 1 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 电、天气、车 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
In Gary, around that time, the weather was very bad.
When the weather is bad, the power goes out.
A great many homes in Gary had no power.
With no power, you can do nothing at home.
Workers came.
When the workers come, the power comes back.
That day, the workers were working.
They were in a vehicle, looking at where things were broken.
There were two people in the vehicle.
Then somebody shot at this vehicle.
Twice.
The two people in the vehicle were all right.
But one shot hit the back of them.
Right behind their heads.
The workers could not work.
They said: we are stopping.
Someone here shoots at vehicles.
So the work of bringing the power back stopped.
The homes in Gary had no power.
For a day, no power.
Later, the workers came back.
This time, other people came with them.
With others there, the workers could work.
Later, the power came back.
Think about it: their job is to bring the power back.
But to do this job, other people have to be there.
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇没有电，家里什么都不能做 = with no power you can do nothing at home.
天气很不好 = the weather was very bad.
他们在车里 = they were in a vehicle.
看哪里不好 = looking at where things were broken.
工人不能做了 = the workers could not work.
工人来了 = the workers came.
有人打这个车 = somebody shot at this vehicle.
来电的事，停了 = the work of bringing the power back stopped.
就在他们头的后面 = right behind their heads.
电就回来 = the power comes back.
别人和他们一起来 = other people came with them.
很多家里都没有电 = a great many homes had no power.
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法A 就 B
"if A, then B, straight away". The whole causal chain of the episode runs on 就.
天气不好，电就没有了。
工人来，电就回来。
不能 + verb
"cannot do X". Twice — once for the households, once for the crew.
家里什么都不能做。
工人不能做了。
要……才……
"only if A can B happen". States a condition that should not be necessary.
要别人在，他们才能做。
Proper nouns
专有名词Sources
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