A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
匹克球在中国火了：八百万人常打，一年一千场比赛
Pickleball Is Taking Off in China: 8 Million Regular Players and 1,000 Tournaments a Year
About this story
Pickleball — a paddle like an oversized ping-pong bat, a badminton-sized court, tennis-style bounces and a plastic ball full of holes — was invented in 1965 by two dads on an island in Washington State to entertain bored kids. Now about 8 million people in China play it regularly, and the China Pickleball Tour has grown from 80-odd stops in 2024 to about 1,000 this year. A Shenzhen student sums up its appeal: 'Just play and you get it.' 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 喜欢、知道、朋友 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.
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原文Read the complete story in Chinese. Reveal pinyin and English only when you need them.
English transcript reference
Do you like playing ball games?
Today we're talking about a kind of ball game called pickleball.
Many people don't know pickleball.
Now, in China, lots of people are playing pickleball.
A university student said: pickleball — play a little, and you can do it.
What kind of ball game is pickleball?
The pickleball paddle is a lot like a ping-pong paddle.
The pickleball paddle is bigger than a ping-pong paddle.
The place where you play pickleball is as big as the place where you play badminton.
The pickleball net isn't as high as a badminton net.
The ball can hit the ground, and you can still hit it back.
That's a lot like tennis.
Some people say: pickleball is like ping-pong, like badminton, and like tennis too.
Where did pickleball come from?
In 1965, in America.
That year, a few kids were at home with no ball game to play.
Two dads thought: what ball game can we play with the kids?
The home had a place to play badminton, but no badminton paddles.
The home had some other paddles, and a little ball too.
They played a bit and really liked it.
Then three families all came to play this game.
That is pickleball.
Now, in China, lots and lots of people play pickleball.
Eight million people in China really like playing pickleball.
Twenty million people have played pickleball at least once.
Many people say pickleball has three good points.
One: play a little, and you can do it.
Two: the place where you play pickleball isn't big, so you don't have to run a lot.
Young people like playing it, and older people can play too.
Three: four people play, and you can make new friends.
In 2026, China has a thousand pickleball competitions.
In 2024, China had eighty-some pickleball competitions.
Do you play pickleball?
A friend invites you to play pickleball — do you go?
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇HSK 1. 你喜欢打球吗？
HSK 1. 很多人不知道匹克球.
HSK 1. 四个人打，可以认识新朋友.
HSK 1. 认识新朋友 — the social side of the game.
HSK 1. 两个爸爸想：我们和孩子打什么球？
HSK 1. 一个大学生说：打一打，就会了.
HSK 2 (打) + 球. Used for ball games played with hands or paddles.
匹克球的拍子，很像乒乓球的拍子.
The paddle is like a ping-pong paddle, only bigger.
羽毛 (feather) + 球. The court is the same size.
网 (net) + 球. The bounce-then-hit play is like tennis.
HSK 3. Measure word 场: 一千场比赛.
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法A 比 B + adjective
A is more [adjective] than B.
匹克球的拍子，比乒乓球的拍子大。
A 没有 B + adjective
A is not as [adjective] as B.
匹克球的网，没有羽毛球的网高。
V 一 V，就……
Just do it a little, and then… — how easy it is.
一个大学生说：匹克球，打一打，就会了。
Proper Nouns
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