A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
Johnny Depp 六年后回归大银幕：演一个被鬼吓醒的守财奴 Scrooge
Johnny Depp Returns as Scrooge
About this story
Johnny Depp Returns as Scrooge. HSK 3 Chinese listening practice.
This is an HSK 3-4 Chinese listening episode that runs about 2 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 8 key vocabulary words such as 认识、电影、温暖 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
This year in Hollywood, something happened many didn't expect: Johnny Depp is back.
You definitely know him.
He played that most famous pirate, and many strange, memorable characters.
But these past few years, he hasn't had it easy.
He fought a huge, closely-watched court case, and after that went several years without landing a big movie.
Many people thought he might never come back.
But this year, he's returned with a new movie, called Ebenezer.
The title may be unfamiliar, but the story behind it you've surely heard.
It tells the most famous Christmas story: A Christmas Carol.
Johnny Depp plays the lead: a rich, stingy, lonely old man named Scrooge.
Scrooge loves only money, not people, and hates Christmas most of all.
But on a Christmas night, a few "ghosts" come for him, showing him his past, present, and future.
Only then does Scrooge realize: if he doesn't change, his future will be grim.
What's more interesting: this time the director, Ti West, originally made horror films.
So this version of the Christmas story, on top of being warm, carries a touch of scary.
The poster even has a clever line: "The name you know, but this story, you haven't seen."
For Johnny Depp, this is his first time leading a big movie in six years.
A man everyone assumed "couldn't come back" — can he, like Scrooge, get his own "second chance"?
That may be exactly what makes this movie so intriguing.
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇你一定认识他 = you definitely know him.
一部新电影 = a new movie.
除了温暖 = besides being warm.
Scrooge 这才发现 = only then does Scrooge realize.
很多人以为他回不来了 = many assumed he couldn't return.
打了一场官司 = fought a lawsuit.
故事里的主角 = the lead of the story.
本来是拍恐怖片的 = originally made horror films.
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法没想到……
'didn't expect that …' — surprise at what happened.
很多人都没想到：Johnny Depp 回来了。
这才……
'only then …' — the realization comes late.
Scrooge 这才发现，如果再不改，他以后会非常惨。
Proper nouns
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