A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
7:07
世界杯小组赛：加克波与布罗贝各梅开二度萨默维尔锦上添花，荷兰进攻全面开花五比一血洗瑞典迎来首胜
Total Football on Show: Netherlands Rout Sweden 5–1 for Their First Win
中高级中文听力：世界杯荷兰五比一血洗瑞典全程回顾。荷兰进攻行云流水、全面开花，加克波与布罗贝双双梅开二度，萨默维尔再入一球，迎来本届首胜并重夺出线主动权。含进阶生词、语法与全文翻译。
This is an HSK 5-6 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 7 key vocabulary words such as 清醒、证明、传统 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 the complete story in Chinese. Reveal pinyin and English only when you need them.
The Netherlands beat Sweden 5-1, a thoroughly enjoyable and extremely impressive match.
A lopsided big score like 5-1 isn't common; it clearly shows the Netherlands played almost perfectly this match, while Sweden suffered a rather painful defeat.
Before reviewing this match, let's first get to know the two teams.
The Netherlands comes from Europe and is one of the universally acknowledged traditional powers of world soccer.
They've always been famous for flashy attacking soccer, with technically refined players and seamless combination, and for years have been a team the broad mass of fans especially love.
Their opponent Sweden also comes from Europe, is no weak side overall, and is a physically strong, tough-styled team with a distinct Nordic character.
However, before this match began, the situation the Netherlands found themselves in was actually somewhat awkward.
In their previous group-stage match, they only managed a draw, and had yet to taste the flavor of victory.
So this match was, for the Netherlands, almost a must-win, can't-lose key battle.
They badly needed a thoroughly convincing win to prove their strength and steady the whole team's morale.
Perhaps it was exactly with this pressure and desire that the Netherlands, from the very start of the match, showed an intense will to win.
Their head coach had clearly prepared thoroughly before the match, and the whole team was fired up, set on completely turning around their previous passive situation with a win.
The moment the whistle blew, the Netherlands firmly seized the initiative on the pitch, applying pressure on Sweden's goal without pause.
Before long, they got the first goal of the match, taking the lead early.
And after taking the lead, the Netherlands, far from choosing to sit back and play it safe, instead grew braver and fiercer.
Soon, they scored a second goal, stretching the score to two to zero.
The Netherlands at this point attacked like a surging tide, wave after wave, with no sign at all of stopping.
Their passing was fast and accurate, and the players' movement and combination flowed like running water, often leaving Sweden's defenders pulled this way and that, unable to cope.
Facing round after round of such an onslaught, Sweden's entire defensive line gradually began to collapse, exposing more and more holes.
And so the Netherlands' goals arrived one after another, the scene spectacular for a time.
Over the whole match, the Netherlands scored five goals in all, displaying their most powerful attacking firepower to the fullest.
Sweden did pull one back through Elanga, who seized a chance to avoid the embarrassment of being shut out, but the huge one-to-five gap was already enough to tell the whole story of this match.
A so-called shutout refers to not conceding a single goal in a match, firmly keeping the opponent's attack out.
Elanga's goal at least meant Sweden didn't go home empty-handed.
And in today's match, two of the Netherlands' players stood out especially dazzlingly.
One was their technically gifted attacker Gakpo, the other the physically strong striker Brobbey.
These two, each one of them, scored a brace in this match — that is, each scored two goals.
A player scoring two goals in a single match has a very vivid name in Chinese: "méi kāi èr dù" (a brace).
Today the Netherlands suddenly had two players each score a brace at once, a rather rare and rather eye-catching outstanding feat.
Gakpo's goals were calm and precise, while Brobbey, with his excellent physique and pace, kept causing trouble for Sweden's back line.
The two of them — you score one, I score one — combined seamlessly and tore Sweden's defense to pieces.
It was precisely thanks to the two of them playing so excellently that the Netherlands' overall attack looked so unstoppable.
And besides these two, the Netherlands had another player, Summerville, score a goal too.
You could say the Netherlands' attack today flowered all over in the truest sense, scoring from many points — and this is exactly what a top-tier team makes most frightening to its opponents.
So why did Sweden lose so badly today?
For one, the Netherlands' overall form today was simply too good, attacking firepower fully unleashed, almost scoring at will.
For another, Sweden's own defense did indeed have quite a few problems, with several key mistakes firmly seized upon and exploited by the sharp-nosed Netherlands players.
When a team's attacking firepower and the opponent's defensive holes appear at the same time, a big score like this is often produced just so.
Actually, Sweden itself isn't a weak team; it's just that today they very unluckily ran into a red-hot Netherlands.
On the soccer pitch, sometimes it's not that you play badly, but that your opponent is simply too strong.
And this match, Sweden tasted, in the most real way, exactly that helpless feeling.
In the end, the match finished five to one, and the Netherlands earned a thoroughly enjoyable big win.
For the Netherlands, this victory was no ordinary one.
It was the first win they took at this World Cup, and won so beautifully, so completely, that the whole team's morale was instantly and utterly ignited.
With such a big win as a foundation, they'll undoubtedly have more assurance and confidence in the matches ahead, and the initiative to qualify is back in their own hands.
And for Sweden, this was undoubtedly a defeat that calls for serious reflection and careful review.
Being scored on five times in a row by the opponent is a rather heavy blow for any team.
They must get out of the shadow of this heavy defeat as soon as possible, calmly learn the lessons, and aim to pull themselves back together in the matches ahead.
Luckily the World Cup journey is far from over, and they still have chances to make up for today's regret and prove their strength anew.
After the match, the discussion mostly centered on the Netherlands' unstoppable attack.
Some marveled that the Netherlands finally played to their proper level today, attacking with flowing, pleasing ease.
Others, without stinting, sent their applause to the two players who each scored a brace, calling them the deserved biggest heroes of this big win.
In fact, this is exactly where the most captivating charm of the game of soccer lies.
Sometimes, a match has goals pouring down like rain, and that thoroughly enjoyable, utterly exhilarating feeling is exactly the moment countless fans savor most.
And for the Netherlands, they must stay clear-headed too: a big win is certainly heartening, but the World Cup's tough battles are still ahead, and only by sustaining this form can they truly go further.
Alright, that's the whole story of the Netherlands versus Sweden match; see you next time.
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
考纲词. 大胜之后，荷兰也要保持清醒。
HSK 1-4. to prove.
HSK 1-4. tradition.
HSK 1-4. speed.
差距很大。五比一这样悬殊的比分并不常见。
非常流畅自然。荷兰的进攻行云流水。
顾了这边丢了那边，忙不过来。瑞典后卫被打得顾此失彼。
* beyond level超纲词
非但没有…，反而…
'Not only did not …, but on the contrary …' marks a strong reversal.
取得领先后，荷兰非但没有收着踢，反而越战越勇。
并不是…，而是…
'It's not …, but rather …' corrects to the real reason.
有时候并不是你踢得不好，而是对手太强大。
唯有…，才能…
'Only by …, can one …' stresses the sole path to a result.
唯有把状态延续下去，才能真正走得更远。
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