A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
帮女友挂号，怎么最后被判刑？
Hospital Booking Bots Lead to Convictions
About this story
HSK 1 Chinese listening. Booking software helped a girlfriend see a doctor, then paid bookings and an overloaded hospital system led to convictions.
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 12 key vocabulary words such as 号、医生、电脑 and walks through 4 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
Zhou Ming can write computer software, and his girlfriend needs to go to the hospital to see a doctor.
Software is something on a computer; with software, a computer can work.
The hospital has very few appointment numbers, so she cannot see a doctor.
Registering means asking the hospital to give you a number; with a number, you can see a doctor.
Zhou Ming wrote software, and his girlfriend got a number, so she could see a doctor.
The computer uses software, and it works very, very fast.
They also registered appointment numbers for people they knew, without charging money; later they charged money.
Zhou Ming had software, and three other people also had their own software.
The hospital's computers could not work properly, and many people could not register.
The court said they had done something wrong.
A court is a place that checks whether people have done something wrong; sentencing means deciding what people who have done something wrong must do.
The court sentenced Zhou Ming to live in prison for twelve months.
Prison is a place where people who have done something wrong must live.
The court also sentenced his girlfriend, but she does not have to go to prison now.
If you need to see a doctor but have no appointment number, would you ask someone to use software to register for you?
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇HSK 1. In this script, 号 means a hospital appointment number. 挂号 means to register for a hospital appointment.
HSK 1. 看医生 means to see a doctor. 医生 is a person who treats patients.
HSK 1. 电脑 is a computer. 电脑软件 means computer software.
HSK 1. 医院 is a place where people see doctors and receive treatment.
HSK 1. 女朋友 means girlfriend. 朋友 can mean friend or, with 女, girlfriend.
HSK 1. 可以 expresses permission or possibility. 有了号，可以看医生 means with a number, you can see a doctor.
Beyond HSK 1. 软件 is software, a program that makes a computer work.
Beyond HSK 1. 挂号 means to register and get a hospital appointment number.
Beyond HSK 1. 法院 is a court, a place that decides whether people did something wrong.
Beyond HSK 1. 判刑 means to sentence someone as punishment for doing something wrong.
Beyond HSK 1. 监狱 is a prison, a place where people who did something wrong must live.
Beyond HSK 1. 做错事 means to do something wrong or make a mistake. 做错事的人 means people who did something wrong.
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法会 before a verb shows ability or skill, meaning 'can' or 'know how to'.
Zhou Ming会写电脑软件，女朋友要去医院看医生。
有 + Object + 了
有了 + object + 了 shows that something has been obtained or has appeared, marking a change of state.
软件是电脑上的东西，有了软件，电脑可以工作。
挂号，是请医院给你一个号，有了号，可以看医生。
是 + Noun + 的 + 地方
A 是 B 的地方 defines A as a place for B. It is used to explain what a place is.
法院是看人有没有做错事的地方，判刑是说做错事的人要怎么做。
监狱是做错事的人要住的地方。
给 + Person + Verb
给 before a person shows that an action is done for or to that person.
他们也给认识的人挂号，不要钱，后来要钱。
法院给Zhou Ming判刑，要在监狱住十二个月。
法院也给女朋友判刑，但是不用现在去监狱住。
Proper nouns
专有名词Sources
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