A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels

一场葬礼,一辆自行车,和一个没有走的人
A Funeral, a Bicycle, and the One Who Didn't Leave
About this story
In Never-Ending Summer, a funeral, a rescue, a birthday bike, and a sold motorbike — Lu Xixiao stays and pulls Zhou Wan out of grief as her mother tries to split them. 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 离开、命运、后事 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, on a swing, Lu Xixiao softly asked Zhou Wan one thing: do you want to fall in love.
Back then, he was about to go abroad at once.
Today, let's keep going.
But fate chose this very moment to shove Zhou Wan hard — the grandmother she'd depended on for life was gone.
Grandma had been ill a long time, and in the end couldn't be kept.
All her life, Zhou Wan's world held only one family member — grandma; now that this person was gone, she suddenly felt hollow.
She shut herself in her room, not eating, not sleeping, in tears day and night.
Lu Xixiao saw it all, and it ached fiercely.
He was supposed to set off abroad, but at this point he went nowhere and stayed by Zhou Wan's side.
He handled grandma's funeral for her, sparing no detail; even the loan shark, remembering an old kindness, quietly took less interest.
And yet, even so, Zhou Wan still couldn't climb out of it.
One day, missing grandma too much, she fell into a heavy sleep at home; the kitchen water boiled over, put out the flame, and gas slowly spread through the room.
Just as she was about to be poisoned, Lu Xixiao rushed in, smashed the window, dragged her back from death's door, and got her to the hospital.
After she was discharged, the wound in her heart was harder to heal than the one on her body.
Lu Xixiao didn't say much; he just held her tightly, stayed day after day, and pulled her, bit by bit, up from the abyss.
Slowly, a little light returned to Zhou Wan's face.
Later, it was Zhou Wan's birthday.
She had once said, in passing, that she wanted a bicycle.
So Lu Xixiao stayed up a whole night at the arcade, winning round after round, until he'd won that bike.
Alone, he hauled that heavy bike up to the rooftop, just to make one small wish of hers come true before her eyes.
Not only that — to redeem the house Zhou Wan had nearly lost, Lu Xixiao sold the motorbike he treasured most.
And precisely then, Zhou Wan's mother appeared again, urging her to leave Lu Xixiao at once.
She said it bluntly: you and he are simply not from the same world.
But this time, Lu Xixiao didn't leave, and Zhou Wan didn't push him away again.
Grandma was gone, but Lu Xixiao was always there.
In the darkest stretch of that summer, it was he who pulled Zhou Wan, inch by inch, back out of the dark.
Only, that secret and that woman still lay pressed between the two of them, ready to detonate at any moment.
When someone has walked with you through your hardest days, could you push him away over one word from someone else?
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Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇HSK 2. 劝她趁早离开陆西骁 = urges her to leave Lu Xixiao early.
HSK 4-5. 可命运偏偏在这个时候… = but fate, at just this moment…
HSK 4-ish. 帮她料理奶奶的后事 = handling grandma's funeral affairs.
HSK 5. 把她从深渊里拽了上来 = pulled her up from the abyss.
HSK 2. 是周挽的生日 = it's Zhou Wan's birthday.
Beyond HSK 3. 本来马上就要出国了 = was about to go abroad right away.
Beyond HSK 3. 那个放高利贷的人 = the man who runs the loan-sharking.
Beyond HSK 3. 眼看周挽就要中毒 = Zhou Wan was about to be poisoned.
Beyond HSK 3. 煤气一点点弥漫开来 = gas slowly spread through the room.
Beyond HSK 3. 想要一辆自行车 = wanted a bicycle.
Beyond HSK 3. 把最宝贝的摩托车也卖了 = sold even his most treasured motorbike.
Beyond HSK 3. 把车扛上了楼顶 = hauled the bike up to the rooftop.
Beyond HSK 3. 那个秘密还压在两个人中间 = that secret still lies between them.
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法相依为命
相依为命 = to depend on each other for survival (esp. two lone family members).
她相依为命的奶奶,走了。
就算…还是…
就算 A,还是 B = even if A, still B — concession.
可就算这样,周挽还是迟迟走不出来。
只为 + 目的
只为 X = solely in order to X — stresses a single, wholehearted purpose.
把车扛上楼顶,只为把她的一个小心愿实现给她看。
随时 + 可能
随时可能 X = could X at any moment — imminent, unpredictable risk.
那个秘密…随时可能引爆。
Proper Nouns
专有名词Sources
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