A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
他送她气球，她说：我们不是朋友
He Brings Her Balloons; She Says They're Not Friends
About this story
In the C-drama Never-Ending Summer, a boy fills the sky with balloons for the girl who tutors him — until her long-lost mother pays her to push him away. HSK 1 Chinese listening practice.
This is an HSK 1 Chinese listening episode that runs about 3 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 11 key vocabulary words such as 钱、妈妈、高兴 and walks through 4 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
Earlier, we talked about Zhou Wan and Lu Xixiao.
Zhou Wan's family has no money.
Her grandma is unwell and needs to see a doctor.
Seeing a doctor costs a lot of money.
Lu Xixiao's family has a lot of money.
Lu Xixiao is very good to Zhou Wan.
On this day, everyone is together at the school.
Everyone lets lots of balloons go.
The balloons are big and beautiful.
Lu Xixiao came too.
He gives Zhou Wan many, many balloons.
He says to Zhou Wan: I want you to be happy every day.
Zhou Wan is very happy.
She thinks: he is really good to me.
Just then, Zhou Wan saw someone.
It was her mother.
Her mother hadn't come for many years.
Her mother never visited Zhou Wan, and never visited grandma either.
Now, her mother has come.
Her mother's family has a lot of money.
Lu Xixiao's home is her mother's home too.
Her mother is unhappy.
She says to Zhou Wan: you can't be close to Lu Xixiao.
Her mother gives Zhou Wan a lot of money.
She says: if you take this money, then you can't see him.
Zhou Wan thinks: grandma needs to see a doctor, and that takes a lot of money.
Zhou Wan needs this money.
So Zhou Wan took her mother's money.
Having taken the money, Zhou Wan stopped seeing Lu Xixiao.
After that, when Zhou Wan looked at Lu Xixiao, she was cold.
She didn't want to talk to him.
Lu Xixiao didn't know why.
Lu Xixiao made a little thing to give to Zhou Wan.
This thing was small and pretty.
But he heard Zhou Wan say:
Lu Xixiao and I are not friends.
Not now, and not later either.
Lu Xixiao was very unhappy.
He no longer gave Zhou Wan that little thing.
He put the thing away and didn't look at it again.
Later, grandma got even worse.
Grandma had to go to the hospital.
Zhou Wan stopped going to school; she had to look after grandma.
Lu Xixiao's family had a lot going on too.
One day, some people beat up Lu Xixiao.
There were many of them, and Lu Xixiao was alone.
Zhou Wan saw it.
She was scared, but she went to help Lu Xixiao.
She didn't want anything bad to happen to Lu Xixiao.
You see, Zhou Wan told Lu Xixiao: we are not friends.
But she didn't want him to be hurt.
Zhou Wan took the money, and grandma could see a doctor.
But Zhou Wan was very unhappy too.
This summer was very hot, and very hard.
Have you ever told someone: we are not friends?
But in your heart, that's not what you meant.
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇HSK 1. 周挽要钱 = Zhou Wan needs money.
HSK 1. 是她的妈妈 = it's her mother. The mother who comes back.
HSK 1. 我要你天天高兴 = I want you to be happy every day.
HSK 1. 我们不是朋友 = we are not friends.
HSK 1. 陆西骁的家也是妈妈的家.
HSK 1. 奶奶要看医生 = grandma needs to see a doctor.
HSK 1. Here it means emotionally cold: 周挽看陆西骁的时候，很冷.
Beyond HSK 1. 气 (air) + 球 (ball). Lu Xixiao gives Zhou Wan many of them.
Beyond HSK 1. The sick grandma — why Zhou Wan needs money.
Beyond HSK 1. 她去帮陆西骁 = she goes to help Lu Xixiao.
Beyond HSK 1. 夏 (summer) + 天 (day). The drama's title 炽夏 = Never-Ending Summer.
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法对 + 人 + 好
对 + person + 好 = to be good/kind to someone.
陆西骁对周挽很好。
妈妈不高兴。
要 + 动词 / 要 + 名词
要 before a verb = need to / want to; before a noun = to want (something).
奶奶要看医生。
周挽要这个钱。
了 (completed action)
了 after a verb marks that the action happened / is completed.
周挽拿了妈妈的钱。
陆西骁也来了。
也 (also / too)
也 goes before the verb to mean the subject does it too.
陆西骁也来了。
她也很不高兴。
Proper nouns
专有名词Sources
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