A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
OPPO 的母亲节广告，惹了大祸
OPPO's Mother's Day Ad Backfired Badly
About this story
A simple story about OPPO's Mother's Day mistake in China — and why a mom doesn't have two husbands. HSK 1 Chinese listening practice.
This is an HSK 1 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 20 key vocabulary words such as 广告、公司、母亲节 and walks through 7 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
Today we're talking about something.
It's about an ad.
What is an ad?
It's a company telling you:
"Come buy our stuff."
"Our stuff is good."
Every day, on TV,
online,
on the street,
there are ads.
This story
happened in May.
May 10
is a special day.
That day
is called "Mother's Day."
It's the day for moms.
The whole world has Mother's Day.
Not just China.
The US has it,
Japan has it,
Korea has it too.
On Mother's Day,
what does everyone do?
Let me tell you.
Some people call their mom.
Some buy flowers.
Some buy clothes.
Some take Mom out to eat.
And some people
do nothing.
But they think about Mom in their hearts.
They think:
Mom works hard.
Thank you, Mom.
OK.
Let's get to today's story.
There's a phone company.
It's called OPPO.
Have you heard of it?
It's a Chinese company.
Has made phones for many years.
Just before Mother's Day,
OPPO thought:
let's also make an ad.
Let's talk about moms.
They wrote a line.
They thought:
this line is interesting.
People will like it.
But unexpectedly,
things went bad.
What was the line?
Listen carefully.
The line said:
"My mom has two husbands."
"One is my dad."
"The other,"
"she sees twice a year."
"When she goes out with Dad,"
"Mom doesn't dress up."
"When she sees the other one,"
"she dresses really beautifully."
If you don't get it, that's OK.
Let me explain.
"The other husband"
isn't a real husband.
It's a celebrity.
What's a celebrity?
Someone who sings.
Or acts in movies.
Lots of people love them.
The meaning is:
Mom likes a celebrity.
She watches him sing twice a year.
When she meets the celebrity,
Mom is very happy.
She dresses beautifully.
But with Dad,
she doesn't dress up.
OPPO thought:
this story is fun.
Moms today are different.
Moms also have their own interests.
But people online
all got mad.
Really mad.
Why?
Let me tell you.
First,
Mom only has one husband.
That's Dad.
Saying "two"
isn't right.
Second,
not dressing up for Dad
and dressing up for a celebrity —
this sounds like
Mom doesn't love Dad.
Not OK.
Third,
tomorrow is Mother's Day.
You should say Mom is wonderful.
You shouldn't make jokes about Mom.
Lots of people scolded OPPO online.
Moms also scolded.
OPPO saw it.
They took down the ad.
They said: "Sorry."
"We were wrong."
This is called "apologizing."
Apologizing means saying: "Sorry."
"I was wrong."
OPPO also did one more thing.
They punished a few people.
Punish means:
"You did wrong,"
"we have to deal with you."
The people punished
were all big leaders.
One of them
is the head of OPPO China.
His name is Duan Yaohui.
He was demoted two levels.
What does "demoted" mean?
It means:
you used to be a big boss.
Now you're not.
You're smaller.
Other leaders
were also demoted.
And some
can't get a raise for three years.
People who know say:
this is OPPO's
harshest punishment in years.
Why so harsh?
Because this incident
made the whole country angry.
Not just a few people —
tens of millions of people.
And there's another thing
that's also unusual.
There's a school
called Wuhan University.
It's a Chinese university.
They also spoke up.
They publicly said:
OPPO was wrong.
A school publicly saying a company is bad
isn't common.
So everyone felt
this incident is huge.
OPPO apologized again.
They said:
"Our content review had a problem."
"We will fix it."
OK.
Today's story ends here.
We learned:
May 10 is Mother's Day.
OPPO, just before Mother's Day,
wrote a bad ad.
The ad said "Mom has two husbands."
This line
made a lot of people angry.
OPPO apologized.
And punished the big boss.
Lastly, one thing I want to say.
Ads are interesting.
Ads want you to remember.
But ads also have to be careful.
Some words —
you think they're fun,
others feel uncomfortable.
When you write things,
you should think:
the words I'm saying,
who might they hurt?
Especially when talking about Mom,
you have to be extra careful.
Mom gave us life.
We have to respect her.
OK.
That's it for today.
Tomorrow we'll talk about other things.
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇A business — a place that makes things or sells services. OPPO is one example.
The everyday word for mother. Same character repeated.
The everyday word for father.
手 (hand) + 机 (machine). The phone you carry.
电 (electricity) + 视 (view). The box you watch shows on.
唱 (sing) + 歌 (song). What singers do.
Describes how something or someone looks beautiful.
生 (produce) + 气 (qi/feeling). To get angry.
大 (big) + 学 (study). A university or college.
Opposite of 对 (right). To be incorrect. 你错了 = you're wrong.
广 (broad) + 告 (tell). A paid message from a company asking you to buy something. Every TV, phone, and street is full of them.
母亲 (mother) + 节 (festival). Celebrated worldwide on the second Sunday of May.
Casual word for 'husband' — used in everyday speech, more common than the formal 丈夫.
明 (bright) + 星 (star). A famous person — singer, actor.
开 (open) + 玩笑 (joke). To joke or tease someone.
道 (speak) + 歉 (regret). To say 'sorry, I was wrong.'
处 (handle) + 罚 (penalty). What happens when someone does something wrong and gets disciplined.
Going down — in price, in temperature, or here in job rank. 降两级 = demoted two levels.
领 (lead) + 导 (guide). A boss or senior person at work.
尊 (honor) + 重 (heavy). To treat someone or something with proper respect.
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法'If you don't understand, that's OK.' A reassuring phrase often used by teachers/narrators.
听不懂没关系。
我给你讲。
Proper Nouns
专有名词Free account
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