A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
美国最年长的参议员，为一台用了四十九年的吸尘器写了段告别。它叫贝丝。
The Oldest US Senator Wrote a Farewell to His 49-Year-Old Vacuum Cleaner. Its Name Was Beth.
About this story
The Oldest US Senator Wrote a Farewell to His 49-Year-Old Vacuum Cleaner. Its Name Was Beth. HSK 3 Chinese listening practice.
This is an HSK 3-4 Chinese listening episode that runs about 2 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 年长、内容、概念 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
America’s oldest serving senator is ninety-two this year; his surname is Grassley.
On the eighth of August, he posted something on social media.
The content had nothing to do with affairs of state.
He was saying goodbye to his own vacuum cleaner.
The vacuum cleaner has a name: Beth.
The name came from a former colleague.
It is an old Hoover machine.
It first worked fifteen years at Grassley’s mother-in-law’s house.
Then it moved to his own house and did another thirty-four.
Added up: forty-nine years.
What sort of length is forty-nine years?
In those forty-nine years America went through several presidents, and Grassley himself went from middle age to ninety-two.
And that machine was still there, still working.
Until this August, when a patch of its power cord burned and went black.
Using it any longer would cause an accident, so it had to stop.
So Grassley took a photograph and added a few lines of farewell.
The original still carries his customary typos.
He wrote: you will not see Beth any more.
It is not safe any longer.
Goodbye, Beth.
You really were a capable helper.
I will miss you.
A ninety-two-year-old senator wrote a eulogy for a vacuum cleaner.
Colleagues left messages underneath almost at once, saying they would miss it too.
The reason this travelled is probably not that it is funny.
It is that a lot of people recognised the feeling instantly: a thing that cannot speak, which kept you company for most of your life.
Think about it: is there an old thing in your home that you have used for many years?
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇美国最年长的参议员 = America’s oldest serving senator.
内容，和国家大事没有关系 = the content had nothing to do with affairs of state.
四十九年是什么概念？ = what sort of length is forty-nine years?
从中年一路做到九十二岁 = went from middle age all the way to ninety-two.
一眼就认出了那种感情 = recognised the feeling instantly.
美国最年长的参议员 = America’s oldest senator.
跟自家的吸尘器告别 = saying goodbye to his own vacuum cleaner.
在格拉斯利岳母家，干了十五年 = worked fifteen years at his mother-in-law’s house.
为一台吸尘器，写了一段悼词 = wrote a eulogy for a vacuum cleaner.
底下很快就有同事留言 = colleagues left messages underneath.
还带着他一贯的错别字 = still carries his customary typos.
陪了你大半辈子 = kept you company for most of your life.
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法……是什么概念？
"what does X actually amount to?" Sets up a comparison that makes a number felt.
四十九年是什么概念？
直到……
"right up until X". Holds a long stable state, then breaks it.
直到今年八月，它的电源线烧了一块。
之所以……，是因为……
"the reason X is Y". Formal way to open an explanation.
这件事之所以能传开，大概，不是因为它好笑。
Proper Nouns
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