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 2 Chinese listening practice.
This is an HSK 2 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 12 key vocabulary words such as 公司、地方、每 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?
If someone offered you ten thousand dollars, would you take it?
You'd definitely ask: why are you giving me money?
Today we're talking about a small place in Pennsylvania, in America, called Hazle Township.
This township has 4,500 households.
This June, every household received a letter.
The letter was written by a big company.
The letter said: we want to build a data center here.
A data center is a huge building full of computers, and artificial intelligence needs those computers.
The letter also said: if you agree, we'll give every household ten thousand dollars.
4,500 households, that's 45 million dollars in total.
You can use the money however you like.
In this township, many households only earn about sixty thousand dollars a year.
Ten thousand dollars is about half a year's rent.
But many people still don't want this money.
Why not?
Fasnacht used to be a teacher, and his house is right next to the data center site.
He said: the data center is too noisy.
Ten thousand dollars is too little, and later my house won't be worth anything.
Spallone is a teacher too, and her family just spent a lot of money on their house.
She said: ten thousand dollars would be nice, it would help us a bit.
But she also worries that later her house will lose its value.
Mr. Majusiak said: I thought it over, and we don't need this here.
Fifteen years ago there were lots of trees here, and he often went hunting in the woods.
Later, companies built lots of big warehouses here, and the woods disappeared.
Mr. Negra said: they're giving us money, are they trying to buy our agreement?
He thinks the company's money will make even more people say no.
The company says it offered the money because many people asked: what's in it for me if you build a data center?
The company also says it will give the township another 120 million dollars over the next fifteen years.
They say about a hundred people who were against it now agree.
Last November, the township government said: no data center can be built here.
The company disagreed and sued the township government.
For now, the township isn't allowing data centers to be built.
Nobody knows yet whether this data center will be built.
If someone gave you ten thousand dollars to build a data center next to your house, would you agree?
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇HSK 2. 信是一家大公司写的.
HSK 2. 一个小地方，叫黑泽尔镇.
HSK 2. 每户人家都收到了一封信.
HSK 2. 她也担心，以后她的房子会不值钱.
HSK 1. 为什么给我钱？
HSK 1. 能不能建，还不知道.
里面都是电脑，人工智能要用这些电脑.
HSK 3. 如果你们同意.
一共是四千五百万美元.
不值钱 = not worth anything.
房 (house) + 租 (rent). 半年的房租.
去法院告了镇政府 = sued the township.
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法如果……，就……
If…, then…
信里还说：如果你们同意，我们就给每户人家一万美元。
想怎么 V，就怎么 V
However you like — do it the way you want.
这些钱，你想怎么用，就怎么用。
对……有什么好处
What good is it to…? / What's in it for…?
公司的人说，给钱是因为很多人问：建数据中心，对我有什么好处？
Proper Nouns
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