A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
建数据中心，每户发一万美元：宾州小镇居民为什么不买账
$10,000 for Every Household If the Data Center Gets Built: Why a Pennsylvania Township Isn't Buying It
About this story
A developer promised $10,000 to each of Hazle Township's 4,500 households — $45 million in all — if the Pennsylvania town lets it build a data center. Most residents still say no: the noise, their property values, and a deep distrust of who is paying. 'Are they trying to bribe us here?' Chinese listening practice at four levels. HSK 1 Chinese listening practice.
This is an HSK 1 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 钱、喜欢、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.
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原文Read the complete story in Chinese. Reveal pinyin and English only when you need them.
English transcript reference
Do you like money?
Lots of people like money.
If someone offered you a lot of money, would you take it?
You'd wonder: what does he want?
Today we're talking about a small place in America.
Lots of families live here.
In June, every family read a letter written by a company.
The letter said: we want to give you money.
Each family gets ten thousand dollars from us.
Ten thousand dollars is a lot of money.
You can buy whatever you want with it.
But what does this company want?
The company said: we want to build a data center here.
A data center is a huge building full of computers.
If the people here say it can be built, the company will give each family ten thousand dollars.
But many people don't want this money.
Why not?
One teacher's house is right behind the data center site.
He said: the data center is too noisy.
He said: ten thousand dollars is too little.
Later on, nobody will want to buy my house.
Another teacher has a little son.
She said: ten thousand dollars would be nice.
But she also wonders: later on, will anyone want to buy my house?
One man said: I thought it over, and we don't want this here.
Another man said: they're giving us money, are they trying to buy us?
The company says: a hundred people who didn't like it before like it now.
Last November, this little place said: no data center can be built here.
The company wasn't happy, and said: you're wrong.
Now nobody knows whether this data center can be built.
If someone gave you ten thousand dollars to build a data center behind your house, would you take it?
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇HSK 1. 你喜欢钱吗？
HSK 1. 很多人都喜欢钱.
HSK 1. 房子里都是电脑.
HSK 1. 一个老师的家，在数据中心后面.
HSK 1. 一个先生说.
HSK 1. 能不能建，没有人知道.
美 (America) + 元 (yuan). 一万美元.
信是一个大公司写的.
数据 (data) + 中心 (center).
在这里建一个数据中心.
以后，我的房子没有人想买.
数据中心太吵了.
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法太 + adjective + 了
Too… — a complaint.
他说：数据中心太吵了。
question word + 都
Whatever… — 什么 plus 都 means "anything".
你想买什么，都可以。
如果……，你要不要？
If…, would you want it? — a hypothetical choice.
如果有人给你一万美元，在你家后面建一个数据中心，你要不要？
Proper Nouns
专有名词Free account
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