A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
两小时五十五分爬完九百米：El Capitan 速攀纪录保持者坠亡，三十岁
He Climbed 900 Metres of El Capitan in 2 Hours 55. He Died at 30.
About this story
He Climbed 900 Metres of El Capitan in 2 Hours 55. He Died at 30. 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 攀岩、悬崖、绳子 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.
Read at your level
原文Read the complete story in Chinese. Reveal pinyin and English only when you need them.
English transcript reference
The person we are talking about today is called Jake Whisenant.
He was thirty this year, and lived in the mountains of California.
What he did is called rock climbing.
Rock climbing means using your hands and feet to get up very high, very steep rock.
No lift, no stairs — only your own body.
In California there is a place called Yosemite.
In Yosemite there is a very famous cliff, called El Capitan.
How high is El Capitan?
About nine hundred metres.
What does nine hundred metres mean?
Think of it as three hundred storeys high — one huge piece of rock, bottom to top.
Climbers all over the world want to climb El Capitan once.
Most people take two days, three days, or even more to climb this cliff.
At night they sleep on the cliff, hanging there on ropes.
But some people do not climb it that way.
They want to see who can climb it faster.
Getting from the bottom to the top in the shortest time.
That kind of climbing is called speed climbing.
In October two years ago, Jake Whisenant and his friend Brant Hysell climbed El Capitan together.
How long did they take?
Two hours, fifty-five minutes, thirty-two seconds.
Other people need two or three days; they took under three hours.
Before them, the fastest record was a little over three hours.
Jake and his partner were about ten minutes faster than the old record.
In climbing, ten minutes is a very, very big number.
From that day on, the record was theirs.
This May, Jake did something else.
He and another friend climbed El Capitan twice in the same day.
Twice in one day — over fourteen hours in total.
So among climbers, a lot of people knew the name Jake.
On August 3rd this year, Jake was climbing in the mountains of California, and he fell.
He did not survive.
He was only thirty.
What exactly happened that day?
It is still being investigated; there is nothing more to say yet.
After hearing the news, a lot of climbers wrote things online.
They said Jake climbed fast and steady, and that he was a good person.
They said that when they climb from now on, they will think of him.
Think about it: some things are both dangerous and beautiful. Do you think they are worth doing?
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇最快的记录 = the fastest record.
速度攀岩 = speed climbing.
两天，三天，甚至更多天 = two days, three, even more.
现在还在调查 = it is still being investigated.
听到这个消息以后 = after hearing the news.
又危险又好看 = both dangerous and beautiful.
你觉得值得做吗？= do you think it is worth doing?
Glossed in the episode: using hands and feet to get up steep rock.
一面非常有名的悬崖 = a very famous cliff.
用绳子挂在那里 = hanging there on ropes.
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法又……又……
"both … and …". Two qualities held at once.
Jake 爬得又快又稳。
有些事情又危险又好看。
不用……，只用……
"no need for …, only …". Strips something to its essentials.
不用电梯，不用楼梯，只用自己的身体。
从那天开始
"from that day on" — marks when a state began.
从那天开始，这个记录，是他们的。
Proper Nouns
专有名词Sources
来源Free account
Keep learning from this story
Create a free account to keep saved words and your preferred level together.
- Keep words with their story context
- Remember your preferred level
- Build your vocabulary over time