A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
6:35
世界杯小组赛：四十多岁C罗梅开二度创六届世界杯进球纪录，葡萄牙进攻全面开花五比零血洗乌兹别克斯坦
Portugal 5–0 Uzbekistan: Ronaldo's Brace Crowns a Record Sixth World Cup on the Scoresheet
世界杯小组赛回顾（中高级中文）：葡萄牙五比零横扫初登世界杯的乌兹别克斯坦，年逾四十的传奇C罗梅开二度，成为足坛史上首位连续六届世界杯破门的球员；这背后是常人难及的自律与坚持。含生词、语法点与全文翻译。
This is an HSK 5-6 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 7 key vocabulary words such as 舞台、自信、坚持 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 the complete story in Chinese. Reveal pinyin and English only when you need them.
Portugal beat Uzbekistan five-nil — a match destined to be written into football history forever.
What makes it bound to be remembered isn't merely that Portugal won this game, but that the match's true protagonist Ronaldo, on the pitch, personally created a remarkable new record for the history books.
Before recapping the match, let's first get to know these two teams.
Portugal comes from Europe, one of world football's acknowledged top powers, with strong players and rich big-match experience, a force not to be ignored at the World Cup for many years.
And within this star-studded team, the one drawing the most attention is, without doubt, their legendary star Ronaldo.
Ronaldo is acknowledged the world over as one of the greatest players in football history.
He has scored countless goals in his career, still keeps superb competitive form, and wherever he goes in the world, has countless supporters and fans.
And even more astonishing, Ronaldo is in fact over forty this year.
For a footballer, at this age the vast majority have long since hung up their boots, yet he remains active on the very highest stage that is the World Cup.
Their opponents in this match, Uzbekistan, come from Asia, newcomers stepping onto the World Cup finals stage for the first time, with a clear gap to Portugal in both fame and overall team strength.
For all these reasons, before the match almost everyone's eyes turned, as one, onto Ronaldo alone: people eagerly wanted to know whether, no longer young, he could keep scoring in this match.
And Ronaldo answered everyone's doubts in the most direct and most emphatic way.
Only a few minutes into the match, Ronaldo seized a chance and, unhurried and calm, slotted home a goal.
In that very moment, countless fans in the stands leapt up from their seats in excitement, loudly chanting his name.
For many fans who travelled specially to be there, being able to see Ronaldo score with their own eyes was itself an immense joy.
One-nil, Portugal took an early lead, and the whole stadium, in this moment of Ronaldo's goal, was utterly lit up, utterly boiling over.
After taking the lead, Portugal played even more comfortably and confidently, firmly controlling the tempo of the match.
Before long, through a lovely move, they scored again, stretching the score to two-nil.
Portugal have a wealth of fine players, and their attacks came wave after wave, hard for Uzbekistan's defence to fend off.
And right after, Ronaldo stepped up once more, scoring his second goal of the day for Portugal.
Three-nil, and with that Ronaldo had completed a brace in this match.
A brace means a player scoring two goals in a row in the same match.
And it was precisely with these two precious goals that Ronaldo achieved a historic feat worthy of the record books.
Because this goal was already his sixth consecutive World Cup with a goal on the scoresheet.
That is, he thereby became the first player in football history to score at six different World Cups.
Before him, no player had ever managed this.
It's a record of the highest prestige and extremely hard to break.
Keep in mind, the World Cup is held only once every four years; six World Cups together is a long span of more than twenty years.
To score at almost every World Cup across a span of more than twenty years takes effort, discipline and persistence beyond ordinary imagination.
Many players may play their whole lives and never even make that many World Cups, let alone score at every one.
Yet Ronaldo turned this almost impossible thing into reality, step by step.
Even more commendable, the Ronaldo of this moment is in fact no longer young.
To still shine and decide matches on the highest stage that is the World Cup in his forties — his greatness no longer needs any more words to describe.
And after Ronaldo's brace, Portugal scored two more goals in succession, finally fixing the score of this match at five-nil.
Those two goals were scored by other players on the team, one of them an own goal an opponent accidentally put in.
This also fully shows that Portugal's strength is by no means down to Ronaldo alone, but superb in overall terms, with goals coming from many sources in attack.
After the match, fans all over the world were almost all celebrating and cheering for Ronaldo.
Some marvelled sincerely that Ronaldo seems never to age, still constantly rewriting all kinds of records.
Many Chinese fans, too, stayed up late before their screens to watch this match through, just to witness this historic, great moment with their own eyes.
Some also said that, more than how many goals he scored, the never-satisfied, never-stopping spirit in Ronaldo and his decades-long, unchanging self-discipline are perhaps what all young players should most learn from.
Others remarked that to witness, in their own lifetime, such a legendary player still shining at the World Cup is itself a fortunate thing.
Of course, for the Uzbekistan who lost the match, they really need not be too dejected either.
As a team playing in their first World Cup, just standing on such a highest stage, competing against a world power like Portugal, is itself an immensely precious experience.
They never gave up the effort from start to finish, and this tenacious fight still deserves people's respect; surely this precious experience will help this young team grow.
Actually, this is exactly what makes the sport of football most fascinating: a truly great player can, across long years, step up again and again, constantly refreshing what people thought possible,
and writing his own immortal history.
Okay, that's the whole story of Portugal against Uzbekistan, see you next time.
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
HSK 1-4. stage.
HSK 1-4. confident.
HSK 1-4. to persist, keep at it.
HSK 1-4. to extend / widen (a lead).
这是一场注定会被写进历史的比赛。
C罗被公认为历史上最伟大的球员之一。
葡萄牙进攻一波接一波，乌兹别克斯坦很难招架。
* beyond level超纲词
并不仅仅因为…，更是因为…
'Not merely because … , but even more because …'.
说它注定要被铭记，并不仅仅因为葡萄牙赢了，更是因为C罗创造了纪录。
要知道，…
'Bear in mind that … / you should know that …' — adds weight.
要知道，世界杯四年才举办一次。
比起…，或许…才是…
'Compared with … , perhaps … is what truly …'.
比起进了多少球，这种自律，或许才是他最了不起的地方。
Free account
Create a free account to keep saved words and your preferred level together.