A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
Photo: Albinfo · CC BY-SA 4.0
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 2 Chinese listening practice.
This is an HSK 2 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 身体、最、累 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?
When you ride a bike, the biggest problem is the wind.
The bigger your body, the more wind in front of you, and the more tiring it is to ride.
Today, we're talking about a man who rides a bike extremely fast.
His name is Evenepoel; he's Belgian and twenty-six this year.
He's not tall, and not heavy.
His arms are short, and when he rides, he can make his body very, very small.
So the wind is much weaker for him than for other people.
Other riders who follow behind him don't find it any easier.
One rider said: riding behind him is like riding into a strong wind the whole time.
So people call him the "Aerobullet."
A bullet is small and fast.
He's small and fast too.
He cares a lot about how to ride faster.
He often runs tests to see how he should sit and what he should wear to go faster.
His bike company even made a dummy the same size as him, so when he's not there, the dummy sits on the bike for testing.
When Evenepoel was little, what he most wanted was to play soccer.
He played soccer for many years, but later he realized he could never be the very best.
He was very sad, and only then did he start riding bikes.
After he took up cycling, he got better and better.
In 2024, he won a gold medal at the Paris Olympics.
This September, there were the world cycling championships in Canada.
The race on September twentieth was one rider at a time, to see who took the least time.
Evenepoel came first again, almost a minute faster than second place.
He has now come first in this race four years in a row.
On September twenty-seventh there was another race, with lots of riders together, over more than two hundred kilometers.
Lots of people thought Evenepoel might come first too.
But this time, he only came twelfth.
The winner was an American rider, who rode alone at the front at the end and finished thirteen seconds ahead of second place.
It's the first time in thirty-three years that an American man has won this race.
When Evenepoel isn't happy, he says so directly.
But he has also said: once you've said it, you forget it.
What do you think matters most for an athlete — their body, or their will to win?
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇HSK 2. 一个运动员最重要的是身体，还是想赢的心？
HSK 2. 最大的问题是风.
HSK 2. 前面的风就越大，骑起来就越累.
HSK 2. — the closing question.
HSK 2. 别的运动员跟在他后面骑，也不觉得轻松.
HSK 2. 他不高，也不重.
骑自行车.
空气子弹 = "Aerobullet."
他非常关心怎么骑得更快.
他很难过，然后才开始骑自行车.
在巴黎奥运会上拿了金牌.
运动 (sport) + 员 (person).
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法越……，就越……
The more…, the more…
人的身子越大，前面的风就越大，骑起来就越累。
……，然后才……
Only after X did Y happen.
他很难过，然后才开始骑自行车。
Proper Nouns
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