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 3 Chinese listening practice.
This is an HSK 3-4 Chinese listening episode that runs about 4 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 同意、发现、决定 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
If a company offered you ten thousand dollars and asked you to agree to just one thing, would you say yes?
This June, every resident of Hazle Township, Pennsylvania, received a letter like that.
It came from a developer called NorthPoint.
The company wants to build a data center in the township, and this is only the first building; altogether it plans fifteen on more than five hundred hectares of land.
The letter said that if the township agreed, each of its 4,500 households would get ten thousand dollars.
Add it up, and that's 45 million dollars.
The letter also said the money could be spent on anything.
Hazle Township isn't a rich place; the median household income is about sixty thousand dollars a year.
For many families, ten thousand dollars is no small sum; even after taxes, it would cover about half a year's rent.
But when a reporter interviewed lots of people in the township, almost nobody welcomed the data center because of the money.
People oppose it for different reasons: some fear the noise, some don't like how fast artificial intelligence is growing.
But many share one feeling: they don't trust these companies.
Fasnacht is a retired teacher whose house is very close to the planned site.
He worries the data center will take years to build, and it will be noisy every day.
He says ten thousand dollars comes nowhere near what his house will lose in value.
Spallone is a special-education teacher, and she got the letter too.
Her biggest worry is also that her house will lose its value.
But she and her husband just put a new roof on their house, which cost quite a bit.
She said: if we got ten thousand dollars, that would be pretty nice.
Leshko, a retired cleaner who lives nearby, isn't in the area that would get the money.
But he understands why some people are tempted.
He said: ten thousand dollars doesn't come along every day.
He has always wanted a house of his own, and the money could go toward a down payment.
Majusiak is a retired worker who thought it over while drinking a beer at a bar.
He said at first he thought, OK, maybe I'll consider it.
But in the end he decided: we don't need this here.
Fifteen years ago, developers started cutting down trees to build warehouses, and his favourite hunting spot turned into concrete walls.
NorthPoint's marketing chief says the idea of paying people came from a heated public meeting last year.
At the time, many angry residents asked: what's in it for me if you build a data center?
He says the ten thousand dollars is the answer to that question.
The company also plans to give the area another 120 million dollars over the next fifteen years, including money for a police department.
He says the company has already won over about a hundred residents who were against it.
Still, the data center's future is very unclear.
Last November, the township government rejected the project under its land-use rules.
NorthPoint then sued the township, and the case hasn't been decided yet.
While the rules are being revised, the township has paused all data-center construction.
Last month, Governor Shapiro also issued an order banning local governments from signing non-disclosure agreements with data-center companies.
Negra, who is helping organize the opposition, says the ten thousand dollars may backfire.
He says many people's first thought is: are they trying to bribe us?
If you lived in Hazle Township, would you agree to a data center next to your house for ten thousand dollars?
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇HSK 3. 只要镇里同意.
HSK 3. 发现几乎没有人因为这笔钱就欢迎数据中心.
HSK 3. 可是最后他决定.
HSK 3. 镇政府拒绝了这个项目.
HSK 3. 帮忙组织反对的内格拉.
HSK 3. 大家反对的理由不一样.
居 (to live) + 民 (people).
有人怕噪音.
一位退休老师.
首 (first) + 付 (payment).
去法院起诉了镇政府.
他们是不是想收买我们？
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法只要……，……都能……
As long as…, everyone can…
信里说，只要镇里同意，镇上四千五百户人家，每户都能拿到一万美元。
远远比不上
Nowhere near as much as.
他说，一万美元，远远比不上他的房子会掉的价。
一边……，一边……
Doing two things at the same time.
马朱夏克是一位退休工人，他在酒吧里一边喝啤酒，一边想这件事。
Proper Nouns
专有名词Free account
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