A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
韩国股市大涨：妈妈的股票赚钱了
South Korea's Stock Market Soars: Mom's Shares Are Up
About this story
A simple story about Korea's stock market — why Mom is happy that Samsung and the KOSPI are going up. HSK 1 Chinese listening practice.
This is an HSK 1 Chinese listening episode that runs about 7 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 20 key vocabulary words such as 国家、韩国、听过 and walks through 7 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
Today let's talk about a country called Korea.
You've heard of Korea, right?
Korea is to the right of China.
And to the left of Japan.
Korea isn't big — not many people either.
But this year,
something fun has happened in Korea.
Let me tell you.
I have a friend.
Her name is Xiaomei.
Xiaomei's mom
has been very happy this year.
One day,
Xiaomei asked her mom:
"Why are you so happy?"
Mom said:
"I earned a little money."
Xiaomei said:
"What money?"
"From your job?"
Mom said:
"No."
"It's stock money."
Xiaomei asked:
"What's stock?"
Mom smiled.
She said:
"Come here."
"Let me explain."
"Look at your phone."
"This phone —"
"who made it?"
"A big company made it."
"That company is very big."
"It makes phones,"
"and also TVs,"
"and fridges,"
"and computers,"
"and many other things."
"Lots of people work there."
"Hundreds of thousands of people."
"Lots of money too."
"Lots of machines too."
"And lots of huge buildings too."
"We want to buy this whole company —"
"we can't."
"It's too expensive."
"So what do we do?"
"The company breaks itself into small pieces."
"Many many small pieces."
"Each piece is cheap."
"Each small piece"
"is called 'stock.'"
"I have a tiny bit."
"I own a small piece."
"This year the company is doing well."
"It made lots of money."
"My small piece"
"has gone up in price."
"So I made money."
Xiaomei nodded.
She said:
"I sort of get it."
"But why is the company doing well this year?"
Mom said:
"I don't really get it either."
"But everyone says"
"it's because of AI."
"What is AI?"
"It's a kind of computer."
"Very smart."
"It can think about questions."
"It can write things."
"It can also draw pictures."
"It can also talk to people."
"You ask it a question,"
"and it answers you."
"It has learned so much."
"Smarter than a person."
"And faster than a person."
"What does AI need?"
"It needs one thing."
"It's called a 'chip.'"
"Are chips small?"
"Very small."
"Small like a grain of rice."
"But really powerful."
"Right now, the whole world"
"wants chips."
"Lots and lots of them."
"So who makes the chips?"
"Korea does."
"Korea has two big companies."
"They make chips."
"One is called Samsung."
"And the other one,"
"is called Hynix."
"This year, those two companies,"
"made huge amounts of money."
"So their stocks"
"went up a lot."
Xiaomei asked:
"Up by how much?"
Mom said:
"A lot."
"Listen carefully."
"In January this year,"
"a 100-yuan stock,"
"by May,"
"became 178 yuan."
"In other words,"
"if you had 1,000 yuan in January,"
"by now,"
"it's 1,780 yuan."
"Up by 780 yuan."
Xiaomei's eyes went wide.
She said:
"Wow!"
"That's a lot of money!"
"Mom, you're amazing."
"I want that money too."
"I want to buy stocks too."
Mom said:
"Right."
"This year, in the whole world,"
"Korea went up the most."
"Nobody beat Korea."
Xiaomei asked:
"So how much did you make, mom?"
Mom smiled again.
She said:
"I didn't make a lot."
"But enough to eat well."
"Enough to buy a few things."
"I'm happy."
Xiaomei asked again:
"What about other people?"
"Other Korean people?"
"Did they all make money too?"
"Are they all happy too?"
Mom said:
"That's the sad part."
"Many Koreans"
"don't own stocks."
"They didn't buy any."
"Or some people"
"did buy,"
"but they sold long ago."
"Sold too early."
"So even though stocks went up,"
"they didn't make money."
"The ones who made money"
"are the rich people."
"And people from other countries."
"Not ordinary people."
"Many Koreans"
"are sad right now."
"They say:"
"why didn't I make money?"
"Why didn't I buy earlier?"
"They see friends getting rich,"
"see foreigners getting rich,"
"and feel terrible inside."
"They can't sleep at night."
"In the morning, they check stocks again."
"And feel sad again."
Xiaomei nodded again.
She said:
"Mom,"
"I get it."
"Some people are happy."
"Some people aren't."
Mom said:
"Right."
"That's how the world is."
"We have to study hard."
"We have to think hard."
"When you grow up,"
"you'll understand."
"Understand stocks."
"Understand money."
"Understand these things."
Xiaomei said:
"OK."
"I'll learn."
And that's the story.
Today we learned:
What is stock?
A small piece of a company.
This year, Korean stocks
went up the most.
Why?
Because AI needs chips.
Korea makes chips.
But some people made money,
and some didn't.
The world,
sometimes,
is just like that.
That's our story for today.
See you next time.
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇A country, like 中国 (China) or 韩国 (Korea). Used when talking about a place where people live together under one government.
The country of Korea. 韩 + 国 (country of Han). Sits between China and Japan.
听 (hear) + 过 (past experience marker). Used to ask 'have you ever heard about this thing before?'
The right-hand side. 右 = right, 边 = side. Opposite is 左边 (left side).
The informal everyday word for mother. Same character repeated.
Feeling happy. 高 (high) + 兴 (mood). When someone is in a good mood.
Used to ask why. Literally 'because of what.' Goes at the start of a question.
赚 (earn) + 钱 (money). To make money — usually from work or from investments.
手 (hand) + 机 (machine). A cell phone, the kind you carry in your hand.
A business — a place that makes things or provides services. Samsung is one example.
A super common verb meaning 'make' or 'do.' 做手机 = make phones; 做菜 = cook.
Low in price. Opposite of 贵 (expensive).
The famous Korean company. 三 (three) + 星 (star). Three Stars. Makes phones, TVs, and chips.
Having a quick mind. Used about people, and now also about AI.
回 (return) + 答 (response). To give an answer to a question.
Very impressive, very capable. Said about people, things, or capabilities you respect.
Used for prices, water level, or numbers going up. Opposite of 跌 (fall).
难 (difficult) + 过 (pass). Feeling sad — hard to get through.
Today's key word. 股 = a small share, 票 = a ticket/certificate. A small piece of ownership in a company.
芯 (core) + 片 (piece). The tiny chip inside a phone or computer that does the calculations.
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法'I'll tell you' / 'Let me explain.' V + 给 + somebody + V tells the listener you're doing the action for them.
我说给你听。
我画给你看。
'Also... also...' Used to list multiple things that are true at the same time.
也做电视，也做冰箱。
公司也有很多人，也有很多钱。
比 + something + adjective = 'more [adjective] than [something].' A basic comparison structure.
比一个人聪明。
也比一个人快。
'In other words...' / 'That is to say...' Used to restate something more clearly.
也就是说，你一月有一千块...
也就是说，他们没有赚到。
Proper Nouns
专有名词Free account
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