A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
一家博物馆没把他想看的画挂出来，于是乔治·卢卡斯用十五年和十亿美元，自己盖了一座
A Museum Wouldn't Show George Lucas the Painting He Asked For, So He Spent Fifteen Years and a Billion Dollars Building His Own
About this story
George Lucas once asked a museum to see its Norman Rockwell and was told it was not on view — illustration being widely dismissed as commercial rather than fine art. The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art opened in Los Angeles on 22 September 2026: fifteen years in the making, 28,000 square metres, a reported $1bn, with 7% of gallery space given to Star Wars props. Rejected first by San Francisco and then Chicago, it now displays those failed designs in a gallery of their own. Both director and chief curator left in 2025 and Lucas has been curating it himself; there is almost no wall text, which is his insistence. Chinese listening practice at four levels. HSK 1 Chinese listening practice.
This is an HSK 1 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 12 key vocabulary words such as 画、看、电影 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
There is a man who loves paintings very much.
The paintings he loves most are by one particular person.
Today he goes to look at paintings.
The place where you go to look at paintings, we call a museum.
He asks: do you have any paintings by that person?
They say: we do.
He says: I would like to see them.
They say: not today.
That painting has not been brought out.
He is very unhappy.
He leaves.
He thinks: I am going to build a museum too.
In my museum, the paintings will all be out.
Everyone will be able to see them.
This man is called Lucas.
You have probably seen his films.
His films are very famous.
Lucas spent fifteen years building this museum.
Fifteen years is a long time.
First he wanted to build it in one city.
The people of that city said: no.
Then he wanted to build it in a different city.
The people of that city also said: no.
In the end, he built it in a third city.
On the twenty-second of September, the museum opened.
This museum is very big.
Inside there are paintings.
Inside there are films too.
And there are things from his films.
You can see the car from the film.
You can see the people from the film.
He spent one billion dollars.
One billion dollars is a great deal of money.
Some people say: this museum is not good.
There are too few words inside it.
You see a painting, but you do not know what it is.
Lucas says: I want you to look at the painting.
I do not want you to look at the words.
Now have a think.
You go to a museum.
You want to see a painting.
They say: not right now.
What will you do?
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇The most repeated word in the episode. Noun and verb at once, which is why it carries the whole story at HSK 1.
HSK 1. 我想看 — two words that set the entire billion-dollar chain in motion.
HSK 1. 你可能看过他的电影 — how a famous man is introduced to someone who does not know his name.
HSK 1. 我也要做一个博物馆 — the decision, in five characters.
HSK 1. Both senses appear: what he thought, and what he wanted.
HSK 1. 十亿美元，是很多很多钱 — the scale explained without any large-number vocabulary.
HSK 3. Defined before it is named: 看画的地方，我们叫博物馆。
HSK 3. Three cities said no, yes and finally yes — the structure of the middle section.
他的电影很有名 — built from 有 plus 名, both of which a beginner already owns.
十亿 is one billion. Chinese counts in 万 and 亿, so this is the unit to learn.
他用了十亿美元 — the number that makes an argument into a building.
里面的字太少了 — the single specific complaint against the museum.
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法……的地方，我们叫……
The place where you do X, we call Y. A definition frame that teaches a noun from an activity the listener already understands.
看画的地方，我们叫博物馆。
我要你……，我不要你……
Two parallel clauses, one positive and one negative, stating an intention by contrast. Used here to quote the founder's whole philosophy in two lines.
卢卡斯说：我要你看画。
我不要你看字。
又……
又 marks a repeat of something that already happened. Here it carries the second rejection, and the repetition is the point.
他又想在别的城市做。
那个城市的人也说：不行。
Proper Nouns
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