Fluentide

A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels

Kai Sato Survives 40 Days Adrift at Sea — episode cover art
1:14

船坏了,一个人漂在海上四十多天,他还是活了下来

Kai Sato Survives 40 Days Adrift at Sea

About this story

An easy Chinese listening story: sailing alone toward Hawaii, Kai Sato's boat broke and he drifted 40+ days, making a sail from pipes, collecting water from the air, eating fish, and refusing to give up until a ship rescued him. HSK 2 Chinese listening practice.

This is an HSK 2 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、天气、水 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.

Kai Sato 是一个美国人,今年三十九岁。
他很喜欢船,一直有一个梦:一个人开船,去夏威夷。
六月,他真的一个人出发了。
可是,在海上,天气很坏,他的船坏了,走不动了。
就这样,他一个人,在大海上飘了四十多天。
海上没有水,也没有多少吃的。
他很聪明:用几根管子,自己做了一个小小的帆。
没有水喝,他就想办法,把空气里的水,一点一点收起来。
饿的时候,他就吃一点麦片,还有跳到船上的鱼。
有几天,他真的很想放弃,一个人哭了很久。
可是最后,他还是决定:我要活下去。
他慢慢地,把船开到了大船会走的路上。
七月的一天,一条很大的船,终于看见了他,救了他。
那时候,他离夏威夷,还有九百英里。
English transcript reference

Kai Sato is an American, thirty-nine years old this year.

He loves boats, and had long had one dream: to sail alone to Hawaii.

In June, he really did set off, all by himself.

But out at sea, the weather turned bad, his boat broke, and it couldn't move.

And so, all alone, he drifted on the open ocean for more than forty days.

At sea there was no water, and not much to eat.

He was clever: with a few pipes, he made himself a tiny sail.

With no water to drink, he found a way to collect the moisture in the air, bit by bit.

When hungry, he ate a little oatmeal, plus fish that jumped onto the boat.

For a few days he really wanted to give up, and cried alone for a long time.

But in the end, he decided: I am going to live.

Slowly, he steered the boat toward the routes where big ships pass.

One day in July, a very big ship finally spotted him and rescued him.

At that point, he was still nine hundred miles from Hawaii.

Listen again

Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.

What vocabulary does this episode teach?

词汇
xǐhuanto like / love

他很喜欢船 = he loves boats.

tiānqìweather

天气很坏 = the weather turned bad.

shuǐwater

没有水喝 = no water to drink.

chīto eat

吃一点麦片 = ate a little oatmeal.

xiǎngto want

真的很想放弃 = really wanted to give up.

chuánboat

他的船坏了 = his boat broke.

fānsail

做了一个小小的帆 = made a tiny sail.

màipiànoatmeal / cereal

吃一点麦片 = ate a little oatmeal.

fàngqìto give up

很想放弃 = really wanted to give up.

cōngmingclever / smart

他很聪明 = he was clever.

* beyond level超纲词

What grammar patterns appear in this episode?

语法

一直……

一直 = "all along / continuously".

他一直有一个梦。

V + 起来

V + 起来 here = gather/collect up: 收起来 = "collect / store up".

把空气里的水,一点一点收起来。

还是……

还是 = "still / after all".

可是最后,他还是决定:我要活下去。

Proper nouns

专有名词
Kai SatoKai (Kaichi) Sato, the rescued Californian sailor美国Měiguóthe United States夏威夷XiàwēiyíHawaii

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

Keep learning