A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
穿过巴拿马运河要花五百万美元：战争和干旱让船票贵到创纪录
Crossing the Panama Canal Now Costs Up to $5 Million, as War and Drought Push Prices to a Record
About this story
Some cargo ships have recently paid up to $5 million to cross the Panama Canal, a record, against an auction average of about $150,000 last winter. Two forces collided: the Iran war rerouted energy, sending Asia-bound LNG tankers from the US Gulf through the canal, while El Niño-linked extreme weather cut daily transits to 32. The canal's locks run on rainwater from Gatún Lake, which also supplies Panamanians' drinking water, and the canal provides 20 cents of every dollar Panama's government takes in. Chinese listening practice at four levels. 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 12 key vocabulary words such as 钱、水、喝 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
Do you like big ships?
Big ships carry lots and lots of things.
Things to eat, things to drink, and clothes and computers too.
Sometimes a big ship needs to go from this ocean to that ocean.
So how does it get there?
Between the two oceans, there's a river.
People made this river; it's called a canal.
This canal is in Panama.
Ships that take this canal get there much faster.
Of every hundred things on big ships, six go through this canal.
Ships have to pay to use the canal.
How much?
Before, a ship paid a hundred-odd thousand dollars.
Now, some ships have paid five million dollars.
No ship ever paid this much before.
Why does it cost so much now?
One reason is war.
America and Iran are at war.
Lots of ships can't take their old routes anymore.
Lots of places in Asia are buying natural gas from America.
Lots of ships carrying natural gas have to go from America to Asia.
All these ships have to use the Panama Canal.
More ships want to use the canal.
The other reason is the weather.
This canal needs lots and lots of water.
The canal's water all comes from rain.
Now there's less rain, and less water in the canal.
With less water, fewer ships can go through.
A few months ago, forty ships a day could go through.
Now, only thirty-two can.
And the canal's water is also the water people in Panama drink.
So the canal's water can't all go to the ships.
Lots of ships want to go, but only a few can.
Lots of ships are in a hurry and want to go sooner.
Ships in a hurry pay more.
So some ships paid five million dollars.
A lot of Panama's money comes from the canal.
Your ship has to arrive tomorrow — do you pay five million dollars or not?
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇HSK 1. 船走运河，要钱 — and how much is the whole story.
HSK 1. 这条运河，要很多很多水 — and people drink it too.
HSK 1. 运河的水，也是巴拿马人喝的水.
HSK 1. 亚洲很多地方，要去美国买天然气.
HSK 1. 有吃的，有喝的，也有衣服和电脑 — what big ships carry.
HSK 1. One of the everyday things on the ships.
HSK 2. Measure word 条: 一条船.
从这个大海，去那个大海 — Pacific to Atlantic.
Defined in the episode: 这条河是人开的，叫运河.
运河里的水，都是下的雨 — so less rain means fewer ships.
美国和伊朗在打仗 — the first reason prices rose.
着急的船，多出钱 — how an auction works.
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法一个是……，还有一个，是……
Lists two reasons in plain spoken style.
一个是打仗。
还有一个，是天气。
A 多，B 少
Sets two amounts side by side to show cause.
想走的船多，能走的船少。
V不V？
A yes-or-no question made by repeating the verb.
你的船明天要到，你出不出五百万美元？
Proper Nouns
专有名词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