A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels

iPhone Duo 起价1999美元,10月23日开卖
iPhone Duo Starts at $1,999; On Sale Oct 23
About this story
Apple has confirmed iPhone Duo as its first foldable phone. Learn the two display sizes, $1,999 starting price, and October sales timeline. 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 10 key vocabulary words such as 手机、苹果、商店 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
Apple's new phone isn't on sale yet, and the price has already made many people stop and look.
A phone costs one thousand nine hundred ninety-nine dollars.
It's called iPhone Duo, and it's Apple's first foldable phone, officially announced on September 9th.
Apple never had a phone like this before, so as soon as the name came out, many people wanted to know how it works.
When you close it, you see the outer screen, and you can use it like a normal phone to check messages.
When you open it, you see the larger inner screen, and you can use it to watch movies or read things.
The outer screen is 5.4 inches, and the inner one is 7.6 inches.
Inches are a common unit for measuring screen size.
You don't need to remember two numbers, just remember that closed it's smaller, and open it's bigger.
One phone can be used in two ways, and that's the easiest part of this launch to understand.
But after seeing the large screen, many people immediately ask another question: when can I buy it?
Apple gave two different dates.
Pre-orders start on October 16th, and you can tell Apple first, "I want to buy it."
Official sales start on October 23rd, and only then will the phone appear in stores.
So hearing "Apple announced it" now doesn't mean you can get the phone today.
Apple says this phone will be sold in more than seventy countries and regions, and China is among them.
For people living in these places, the iPhone Duo will arrive in stores soon, and the price is the hard part.
One thousand nine hundred ninety-nine dollars is the starting price, and not everyone wants to spend that much on a phone.
Some people read very long articles on a small screen every day and want more space after opening it.
People like that may find it useful to put a large screen into a phone that can close.
Others say today's phones are already good enough, so why spend so much more?
Both ways of thinking are easy to understand.
This news is different from Apple's previous foldable phone rumors.
Before September 9th, people could only guess what it would be called and how much it would sell for.
Now the name, the sizes of the two screens, the starting price, and the sales dates are all announced by Apple itself.
Apple says it's called iPhone Duo.
The outer one is 5.4 inches, and the inner one is 7.6 inches.
The starting price is one thousand nine hundred ninety-nine dollars.
Pre-orders start on October 16th, and sales start on October 23rd.
If you walk into a store and see this phone, will you open the screen first, or look at the price first?
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇The new foldable product.
The company that announced the phone.
Where it will be sold.
Pre-orders and sales begin on different days.
The price is already public.
The two screen sizes are easy to understand.
The defining action of this phone.
The phone has inner and outer displays.
Unit for display size.
Orders open before retail sales.
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法还没有……
Says an expected event has not happened yet.
苹果的新手机还没有开卖,价格已经让很多人,停下来看。
……以后……
Places the second action after the first.
九月九日以前,人们只能猜,它会叫什么名字,卖多少钱。
Proper Nouns
专有名词Sources
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