A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
四百年前的"谋杀案"？科学家用 DNA 揭开 Medici 兄弟的死因
Ancient DNA Rewrites Medici Poisoning Legend
About this story
An easy Chinese listening story: for four centuries people believed two Medici brothers were poisoned, but scientists took DNA from their old bones and found the real killer was a disease, malaria. 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 11 key vocabulary words such as 身体、早、家 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
In Italy, there was a very famous great family called the Medici.
The Medici family was rich and powerful.
In the family were two brothers.
The older brother was a grand duke.
At the age of 46, he suddenly died.
The younger brother had died young too.
When the two brothers died, many people said: someone poisoned them.
The one people suspected was another family member who wanted power.
People argued over this question for more than four hundred years.
Recently, scientists examined the two brothers' bones.
They looked at the DNA inside the bones.
The result stunned everyone.
Inside both men was a very nasty disease, called malaria.
What really killed the two brothers was this disease.
It wasn't that someone poisoned them.
A four-hundred-year-old puzzle was, at last, slowly solved by science.
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Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇两个人的身体里 = inside both men's bodies.
弟弟也很早就死了 = the younger brother died early too.
Medici 家很有钱 = the Medici family was rich.
想要权力的人 = someone who wanted power.
给他们吃了毒 = poisoned them (fed them poison).
看了两兄弟的骨头 = examined the brothers' bones.
很有名的大家族 = a very famous great family.
很有权力 = very powerful.
一个大公爵 = a grand duke.
给他们吃了毒 = poisoned them.
一个很不好的病，叫疟疾 = a nasty disease called malaria.
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法又……又……
又 A 又 B = "both A and B".
Medici 家很有钱，也很有权力。
真正……的，是……
真正 X 的，是 Y = "what really X is Y".
真正害死两兄弟的，是这个病。
不是……
不是 X = "it was not X".
不是有人给他们吃了毒。
Proper nouns
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