A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
诺兰用 IMAX 胶片拍完了整部《奥德赛》。那台新摄影机，用一对在 IMAX 干了五十三年的夫妻命名。
Nolan's IMAX Camera Honors Longtime Partners
About this story
Nolan's IMAX Camera Honors Longtime Partners. HSK 1 Chinese listening practice.
This is an HSK 1 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 6 key vocabulary words such as 名字、电影、工作 and walks through 2 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
Today, we are going to talk about a machine.
This machine is very big.
This machine is used for making films.
It has a name. It is called Keighley.
Why would a machine have a name?
Keighley is a person’s name.
This person worked at one company for fifty-three years.
Fifty-three years is a very, very long time.
In those fifty-three years, he did one thing.
He watched films — whether the film looked good, whether it looked right.
He watched five hundred films.
His wife works at this company too.
So the machine’s name is the name of both of them.
Good. Now let us talk about the machine.
The big machines of the past had a problem.
The moment the machine started, the sound was very, very loud.
When a person spoke in the film, you could not hear him speak.
What you heard was the sound of the machine.
So the people making films did not use the big machine for speaking.
The big machine filmed the big things.
When a person spoke, they used a small machine.
One film, two machines.
It was like that for many, many years.
There is a man called Nolan.
He makes films, and he is very famous.
He said: I want to use the big machine to make a film.
From the first minute to the last minute, all on the big machine.
When people speak, the big machine too.
So the company made a new machine.
The new machine had to be quiet.
The old machine was very loud, and it did not sound good.
The new machine is a little quieter, and sounds a little better.
The new machine is still very, very big.
One person cannot operate it.
This film of Nolan’s is called The Odyssey.
It is the first film shot from beginning to end on the big machine.
A lot of people went to see this film.
A great many people went to see it.
And finally, we come back to that name.
A new machine, a quiet machine, with a person’s name on it.
This person watched films for fifty-three years.
He did not make films.
He just watched — watched whether the picture was right — for fifty-three years.
Think about it:
One thing — could you do it for fifty-three years?
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇The camera has a 名字, and the 名字 is a person’s.
电 is electric, 影 is shadow. He watched five hundred 电影.
He 工作 at one company for fifty-three years.
The whole story turns on 声音 — the machine made too much of it.
The opposite of loud. The new machine had to be 安静.
说 is to say, 话 is words. The old camera could not film people 说话.
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法从……到……
From X to Y — marks both ends of a span, of time or of anything else.
从第一分，到最后一分，都用大机器。 — From the first minute to the last, all on the big machine.
从头到尾 — from beginning to end
……的时候，就……
When X happens, then Y. 的时候 marks the moment.
人说话的时候，就用小机器。 — When people spoke, they used the small machine.
下雨的时候，就在家。 — When it rains, stay home.
Proper nouns
专有名词Sources
来源Free account
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