A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
一张保险单，和一声当众叫出的“妈妈”
An Insurance Contract, and a "Mother" Said Out Loud
About this story
In Never-Ending Summer, an insurance contract, a white gown, and a public "Mom" — Zhou Wan stages a scene to win back her father's money as Lu Xixiao watches, hurt. HSK 3 Chinese listening practice.
This is an HSK 3-4 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 13 key vocabulary words such as 钱、母亲、医院 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
Last time, Zhou Wan took her mother's bank card, hardened her heart and pushed Lu Xixiao away — but grandma's illness kept worsening, and the money to save her was still far short.
Today, let's keep going.
Zhou Wan's father had long been gone; before he died, he left behind a sum of money.
All these years, her mother flatly insisted the money was hers, and gave Zhou Wan not a cent.
But right at this point, Zhou Wan dug up an insurance contract at home.
It was written plainly: the true beneficiary of the money, from start to finish, was Zhou Wan herself — not her mother at all.
In that moment, Zhou Wan understood everything: she'd been lied to by her own mother for years.
She quietly made a vow: what belongs to me, I'll take back with my own hands, piece by piece.
The chance came quickly.
The Lu family held a grand memorial banquet; everyone of note in the city would attend, and Zhou Wan's mother, of course, was among them.
Zhou Wan did everything she could to sneak in — she meant to force her mother, in front of everyone, to cough up her father's money.
At the banquet, the boy who always looked down on her deliberately spilled a drink on her old dress, to shame her in public.
Every eye fixed on Zhou Wan, and the air froze.
Just then, Lu Xixiao walked over.
It turned out he had quietly prepared a white gown for her, and without a fuss sent her off to change.
When Zhou Wan changed and stood under the lights, her whole self lit up.
Even though she'd been cold as ice to him lately, Lu Xixiao kept stepping in front of her, again and again.
But fate gave them no room to breathe.
Right then, Zhou Wan got a call from the hospital: grandma finally had a matching kidney donor, but the surgery cost three hundred thousand.
Three hundred thousand — for Zhou Wan at that moment, it was an astronomical figure.
She had almost no other choice.
Step by step she walked to the center of the banquet and, before the whole room, called that woman "Mom" for the first time.
She said: all these years, thank you, Mom, for supporting me.
One line, and she pinned her mother in front of everyone.
Cornered, her mother could only agree in public to hand over the father's three hundred thousand.
And so grandma's surgery money was secured.
But this scene fell entirely into Lu Xixiao's eyes.
His face showed nothing, but inside felt as if a hand had gripped it hard.
He asked Zhou Wan: toward me, was there ever even one second that was real?
Zhou Wan opened her mouth, and in the end said nothing.
Because she was pressing down a secret she couldn't break open: the woman on that stage was the very birth mother who had abandoned her — and not one person in the room knew it.
After the banquet, the Lu family simply moved Zhou Wan in, under the same roof as Lu Xixiao, to study for the exams together.
The distance between them was drawn closer, bit by bit.
But Zhou Wan, unable to help drifting toward him, also had to hide the truth with all her might.
This summer, she lived more and more like someone walking a tightrope.
Have you ever had a secret that the harder you tried to bury it, the more you feared it would be seen through?
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇HSK 1. 逼妈妈把爸爸的钱吐出来 = force her mother to cough up father's money.
HSK 4 (母亲); here via 妈妈 HSK 1. The birth mother who abandoned her.
HSK 1. 周挽接到医院的电话 = Zhou Wan gets a call from the hospital.
HSK 3. 很快，机会就来了 = the chance came quickly.
HSK 2 (办法). 她几乎没有别的选择 (办法) = almost no other way.
HSK 3. 她暗暗下定决心 = she quietly made up her mind.
Beyond HSK 3. 陆家办了一场很大的纪念晚宴 = the Lu family held a grand memorial banquet.
Beyond HSK 3. 一张保险合同 = an insurance contract.
Beyond HSK 3. 真正的受益人是周挽自己 = the true beneficiary is Zhou Wan herself.
Beyond HSK 3. 等到了合适的肾源 = a matching kidney donor was found.
Beyond HSK 3. 多谢妈妈一直资助我 = thank you, Mom, for supporting me financially.
Beyond HSK 3. 抛下她的亲生母亲 = the birth mother who abandoned her.
Beyond HSK 3. The secret she presses down all night.
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法一口咬定
一口咬定 = to insist flatly / stubbornly claim (something), refusing to budge.
妈妈一口咬定这笔钱是自己的。
哪怕…还是…
哪怕 A，还是 B = even if A, still B — concession.
哪怕她对他冷得像冰，陆西骁还是挡在她前面。
只能 + 动词 (no choice)
只能 = can only / be forced to, often after being cornered (骑虎难下).
妈妈骑虎难下，只能当众答应。
一边 A，一边 B
一边…一边… = doing two things at once, here two conflicting impulses.
一边忍不住想靠近他，一边又要死死瞒着他。
Proper Nouns
专有名词Sources
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