A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
一个人在海上四十多天：Kai Sato 活着回来了
Forty Days Alone at Sea: Kai Sato Came Back Alive
About this story
A simple beginner Chinese listening story about Kai Sato, an American whose boat broke at sea, who survived alone for over a month eating fish, until a big ship found and rescued him. HSK 1 Chinese listening practice.
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 10 key vocabulary words such as 喜欢、水、吃 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
Kai Sato is an American.
He loves boats.
One day, all alone, he sailed a boat out to sea.
His boat broke.
With the boat broken, he couldn't get home.
One month, two months, he was alone at sea the whole time.
At sea there was no water, and not much to eat.
He was scared, and he missed home.
But he didn't give up; he wanted to survive.
He ate fish from the sea and drank tiny sips of water.
Day after day, he was all alone.
Then one day, a very big ship came.
The people on the big ship saw him.
They saved him.
Now Kai Sato is okay, and he has gone home.
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What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇他很喜欢船 = he loves boats.
海上没有水 = at sea there was no water.
他吃海里的鱼 = he ate fish from the sea.
也很想家 = he missed home.
不能回家 = couldn't get home.
他的船坏了 = his boat broke.
一个人在海上 = alone at sea.
船坏了 = the boat broke.
他们救了他 = they saved him.
吃海里的鱼 = ate fish from the sea.
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法一个人
一个人 = "alone / by oneself".
他一个人，开船去海上。
要 + verb
要 + verb = "is going to / wants to (do)".
他没有走，他要活下来。
一天一天
一天一天 = "day after day".
一天一天，他都一个人。
Proper Nouns
专有名词Free account
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