A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
梅西在白宫见到特朗普总统
Messi Meets President Trump at the White House with Inter Miami in Washington
About this story
A simple story about Messi and Inter Miami visiting Trump at the White House in Washington — soccer, gifts, and friends. HSK 1 Chinese listening practice.
This is an HSK 1 Chinese listening episode that runs about 6 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 14 key vocabulary words such as 足球、运动、有名 and walks through 5 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
Speaking of a big news story recently, it is about football.
Football is a round thing.
Many people like playing football.
Many people like watching football.
This is a very big sport.
In this sport, there is a person who is very famous.
His name is Messi.
Do you know him?
He plays football very well.
He is one of the best people in the world.
Where does he work?
He works for a team.
The name of this team is Miami.
Miami is a place in the United States.
The weather there is very hot.
The people there really like happiness.
Messi and his friends are all on this team.
They are together every day.
They run together.
They play football together.
Last year was 2025.
This year was very important to them.
Why was it important?
Because they went to compete.
There were many matches.
They worked very hard.
They wanted to win.
Finally, they really won.
They were first place.
They were the champions.
Everyone was very happy.
The boss was very happy.
Messi was very happy.
Everyone drank a lot of water and wine.
Because they won, they were going to a place.
This place is very special.
This place is not in Miami.
This place is in Washington.
This place is called the White House.
What is the White House?
The White House is a house.
This house is very big.
This house is white.
So we call it the White House.
Who lives in the White House?
The President of the United States lives here.
The current president is Mr. Trump.
He is the master here.
This day was Thursday.
The weather was very good.
It was in the afternoon.
Probably around four-thirty.
Messi and his team came.
They did not wear football clothes.
They wore suits.
The suits were black.
They looked very handsome.
They walked into the White House.
They went to a large room in the White House.
The room was very beautiful.
There were many chairs and tables.
President Trump was waiting for them there.
The President saw Messi.
The President was very happy.
The President smiled.
The President shook hands with Messi.
The President said: "Hello, Messi."
The President said: "Welcome to the White House."
The President said: "I am very happy to see you."
The President told everyone something.
He said: "Previous presidents have not seen you."
He said: "I am the first one."
He said: "This is very good."
The President also spoke about his family.
The President has a son.
The son's name is Barron.
Barron is a young man.
Barron likes football very much.
Barron also likes Messi.
The President said: "My son is very excited."
The President said: "Because you are coming here."
Everyone listened very seriously.
There were many other people in the room.
There was the team boss.
The boss is called Jorge.
The boss was also very happy.
The boss said a lot of words.
The boss said: "We want the best players."
The boss said: "Messi is exactly the best."
The boss said: "We won many matches."
The boss's family also came.
Everyone felt this was a good day.
Then, they gave gifts.
Giving gifts is a very polite thing.
Messi had a gift for the President.
What gift was it?
It was a piece of clothing.
It was football clothing.
The clothing was pink.
This color is very beautiful.
There was a number on the back of the clothing.
It was number forty-seven.
Why forty-seven?
Because Trump is the forty-seventh president.
Another gift was a ball.
Messi wrote words on the ball.
The President also had gifts for them.
Everyone was very happy.
Everyone took photos together.
This was a very happy day.
The President said: "You can go look at my office."
That office is very famous.
Many people want to go look.
Messi and friends all went.
This is a story about football.
It is also a story about America.
What is this story saying?
Let's say it simply.
This is about the champions of 2025.
Inter Miami won the football competition.
They were first place.
So they went to the White House.
That very famous player Messi also went.
The American President Trump met them.
They spoke to each other.
They gave things to each other.
This was to congratulate them on winning the competition.
This is today's news.
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇A common noun for the sport. Literally 'foot ball'.
Used here as a noun for 'sport', but can also be a verb 'to exercise'.
Adjective describing someone well-known. Literally 'have name'.
Ordinal number indicating rank or sequence.
Can be used as a noun (a match) or a verb (to compete).
Verb used for putting on clothes.
Noun for a present given to someone.
Noun referring to a narrative or tale.
Refers to the winner of a competition. Usually an intermediate (HSK 4) word.
The head of state of a republic. Usually an intermediate (HSK 5) word.
Formal clothing worn by men. Literally 'Western outfit'.
A verb-object compound meaning to greet by shaking hands.
Adjective describing a state of high energy or happiness.
Verb used to express good wishes for an achievement.
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法因为……所以…… (yīnwèi... suǒyǐ...)
This structure connects a cause and an effect. It translates to 'Because..., so/therefore...'.
因为他们赢了，所以他们要去一个地方。
因为特朗普是第四十七个总统。
Verb + 得 + Degree Complement
Used to describe how an action is performed. The particle 得 (de) connects the verb to an adjective or phrase that describes the degree or quality of the action.
他踢球踢得非常好。
大家都听得很认真。
Place + 有 + Object
Used to express existence ('there is/are') at a specific location.
在这个运动里，有一个人很有名。
房间里还有很多人。
Noun + 之一 (zhī yī)
Means 'one of [noun]'. It is placed after the noun phrase it modifies.
他是世界上最好的人之一。
Verb + 过 (guò)
The particle 过 is added after a verb to indicate past experience (something has happened before).
以前的总统没有见过你。
Proper Nouns
专有名词Sources
来源Free account
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