A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
《牛来》：网上的嘲笑，把一部做得很差的动画电影送上了两千多万票房
Niu Lai: Online Mockery Turned a Badly Made Film Into a 20-Million-Yuan Hit
About this story
Niu Lai sold almost no tickets at first; online mockery of the little cow then pushed the box office past 20 million yuan. HSK 2 Chinese listening practice.
This is an HSK 2 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 12 key vocabulary words such as 电影、买、看 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 at your level
原文Read the complete story in Chinese. Reveal pinyin and English only when you need them.
English transcript reference
The Chinese animated film Niu Lai was very rough, yet suddenly many people bought tickets.
What were they really watching?
In the first ten days after release, fewer than three hundred people watched Niu Lai, and its box office was just over 7,000 yuan.
The cinemas were quiet, and almost nobody noticed the film.
Someone filmed clips on a phone and put them online.
In the clips, the little cow walked strangely and the characters moved strangely.
When the little cow spoke Chinese, its voice did not match its mouth.
People saw the clips and laughed.
Many people said Niu Lai was badly made.
One friend saw Niu Lai online and sent it to another friend.
That friend watched it and sent it to someone else.
More people came online, and more people laughed at Niu Lai.
People first watched a little on their phones, then wanted to see more.
Many people began asking: was the film really this bad?
They wanted to see Niu Lai for themselves in a cinema.
They were not looking for a good film; they wanted to see how bad this film could be.
After buying tickets, they could laugh together with people in the cinema.
In the cinema, everyone watched Niu Lai walk.
Niu Lai walked badly, and everyone laughed.
Niu Lai spoke Chinese badly, and everyone laughed again.
Someone put the cinema laughter online, and friends wanted to buy tickets too.
At first, very few people bought Niu Lai tickets.
Later, more people bought tickets, and cinemas added screenings.
The box office grew from 7,000 yuan to more than 20 million yuan.
Many people talked about Niu Lai and wanted to see for themselves how bad it was.
The film did not become good just because more people watched it.
People still said it was badly made.
Its poor quality made watching and laughing together feel fun.
Mockery told more people about it; online jokes created curiosity, and curiosity led to tickets.
Niu Lai was originally a story about a little cow growing up in a dream.
What made it news was that people first laughed at it, then paid money to laugh at it in a cinema.
Would you buy a ticket to see how bad it is?
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇HSK 1. 中国动画电影《牛来》做得很粗糙。
HSK 1. 却突然有很多人买票。
HSK 1. 大家到底在看什么？
HSK 1. 一个朋友在网上看见牛来，就发给另一个朋友。
HSK 2. 小牛说中文的时候，声音和嘴也对不上。
HSK 2. 大家先在手机上看一点，后来又想看更多。
HSK 2. 这部电影没有因为人多就变成好电影。
HSK 2. 真正让它变成新闻的，是大家先笑这个电影。
票房从七千多元变成两千多万元。
HSK 3. 上映后的前十天，《牛来》的观众还不到三百人。
嘲笑让更多人知道，网上的笑话让更多人好奇。
网上的笑话让更多人好奇，好奇让更多人买票。
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法不是……，是……
Corrects the motive: they were not hunting a good film; they wanted to see how bad it was.
他们不是想看一个好电影，他们是想看看这个电影能有多不好。
从 A 变成 B
Marks a change of state. Here it is the box-office jump in one sentence.
票房从七千多元变成两千多万元。
More and more. First the audience online, then the people laughing at Niu Lai.
网上的人越来越多，笑牛来的人也越来越多。
Proper Nouns
专有名词Sources
来源Free account
Keep learning from this story
Create a free account to keep saved words and your preferred level together.
- Keep words with their story context
- Remember your preferred level
- Build your vocabulary over time