A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
Google 买了很多电脑，用的钱太多了
Google Bought a Mountain of Computers, and Spent Too Much
About this story
A simple beginner Chinese listening story about Google, the giant American company that bought a huge number of expensive computers for AI and, this time, spent too much money. 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 8 key vocabulary words such as 知道、钱、电脑 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 at your level
原文Read the complete story in Chinese. Reveal pinyin and English only when you need them.
English transcript reference
Do you know Google?
Google is a very big American company.
For many, many years, Google has had a lot of money.
Google has more money than a lot of companies.
This time, Google bought a huge number of computers.
These computers are all new, and cost a huge amount of money.
Google wants to use these computers to build AI.
Buying these computers, Google spent too much money.
The money Google spent was more than the money it had.
A lot of people saw this and were a little puzzled:
Google bought a lot of computers — is that right?
Google says: AI is great, I'm going to do it.
Google is huge, and it has a lot of money.
But this time, Google spent too much.
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇你知道 Google 吗？ = Do you know Google?
有很多钱 = has a lot of money.
买了很多电脑 = bought a lot of computers.
Google 买了很多电脑 = Google bought a lot of computers.
想用这些电脑做 AI = wants to use these computers for AI.
做 AI = to build AI.
用了太多钱 = used (spent) too much money.
一个很大的美国公司 = a very big American company.
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法A 比 B 多
比 compares two things: A 比 B 多 = "A is more than B".
Google 的钱，比很多公司都多。
想 + verb
想 + verb = "want to / plan to do".
Google 想用这些电脑，做 AI。
太……了
太 + adjective + 了 = "too …".
这一回，Google 用的钱，太多了。
Proper Nouns
专有名词Free account
Keep learning from this story
Create a free account to keep saved words and your preferred level together.
- Keep words with their story context
- Remember your preferred level
- Build your vocabulary over time