A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
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比利时“空气子弹”伊文内普尔：连续四年拿下计时赛世界冠军，公路赛却只拿第十二
Belgium's 'Aerobullet' Remco Evenepoel Won a Fourth Straight Time-Trial World Title — Then Finished 12th in the Road Race
About this story
Short arms, squat thighs and a 1.70 m frame make Belgian cyclist Remco Evenepoel perhaps the most aerodynamic rider ever — rivals say drafting him is like riding into a headwind. A failed youth footballer ('Thank you for breaking me'), he won his fourth straight time-trial world title in Montreal on Sept 20, 2026. But in the Sept 27 road race, American Brandon McNulty soloed to the first US men's title in 33 years, and Evenepoel came 12th. Chinese listening practice at four levels. HSK 1 Chinese listening practice.
This is an HSK 1 Chinese listening episode that runs about 2 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 快、小、年 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 riding a bike?
Today, we're talking about a man who rides a bike really, really fast.
He's not tall, and he's not big.
When he rides his bike, his body is very, very small.
Did you know?
When you ride a bike, there's wind in front of you.
If the wind is strong, you can't ride fast.
A big body means more wind.
A small body means less wind.
This man rides with a small body, so there's little wind.
So he rides really, really fast.
When he rides in front, the people behind him get tired too.
So people call him the "Aerobullet."
A bullet is small, and very fast.
He's small, and very fast too.
His name is Evenepoel, and he's twenty-six.
When he was little, he didn't want to ride bikes.
He wanted to play soccer.
He played soccer for many years, but he wasn't very good.
Then he started riding bikes.
He rode for many years, and he got very good.
In September, there was a very big bike race.
It's the race where the best riders in the world compete.
On September twentieth, riders went one at a time, to see who was fastest.
Evenepoel was the fastest.
He came first.
He has come first in this race four years in a row now.
On September twenty-seventh, there was another race, with lots of riders together.
Lots of people thought: Evenepoel will come first too.
But this time, he didn't come first.
He came twelfth.
This time, the winner was an American.
Four years in a row he came first; this time he came twelfth.
Is a rider fast because of a small body, or because he really wants to win?
What do you think?
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇HSK 1. 他骑得很快很快.
HSK 1. 身子小，风就小 — the whole secret.
HSK 1. 他已经四年都是第一了.
HSK 1. 你知道吗？
HSK 1. 你喜欢骑自行车吗？
HSK 1. 他想踢足球 / 很多人想：他也会是第一.
骑自行车 = to ride a bike.
自行 (self-moving) + 车 (vehicle).
风很大，人就骑不快.
Spoken word for body. 身子小，风就小.
踢足球 = to play soccer (踢 = kick).
HSK 3. 一个很大的自行车比赛.
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法A 大，B 就大
When A is big, B is big — a cause-and-effect pair.
身子大，风就大。
身子小，风就小。
V + 得 + 很 + adjective
Describes how an action is done.
所以，他骑得很快很快。
是因为 A，还是因为 B？
Is it because of A or B?
一个人骑得快，是因为身子小，还是因为很想赢？
Proper Nouns
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