A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
劳力士帕德洛尼一年只需调一次日期
Rolex Padellone Needs One Date Fix a Year
About this story
Learn how the new Rolex Padroni watch uses an annual calendar to track month lengths, requiring manual adjustment only in February. HSK 2 Chinese listening practice.
This is an HSK 2 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 15 key vocabulary words such as 告诉、日期、普通 and walks through 5 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
Today we are talking about a very smart watch.
It is Rolex's new watch this year, named Padroni.
It not only tells you the time, but also the date.
The date means what month and day it is today.
Ordinary watches advance the date by one day every night.
After the 1st comes the 2nd, and after the 2nd comes the 3rd.
This matter is very easy.
However, the number of days in each month is different.
Some months have thirty days, and some have thirty-one days.
April has only thirty days.
After April 30th, it should be May 1st.
Ordinary watches might not know that April is shorter.
It might go to April 31st.
But April 31st does not exist.
At this time, people have to correct the date themselves.
Padroni remembers which months have thirty days and which have thirty-one.
When April 30th reaches midnight, the date changes directly to May 1st.
May has thirty-one days, so it waits one extra day before moving to June 1st.
People do not need to help it every month.
This function is called an annual calendar.
The annual calendar remembers how many days are in most months.
There are two small windows on the watch.
One tells you the day of the week, and the other tells you the month.
There is also a blue hand that tells you what day of the month it is.
These things all change together at twelve o'clock at night.
The change is very fast; it is completed in an instant.
However, the annual calendar has one problem it cannot solve by itself.
This problem is February.
In ordinary years, February has twenty-eight days.
In some years, February has twenty-nine days.
This watch does not know which type this year is.
So when February turns to March, people still need to adjust it once.
Rolex says it only needs this one adjustment per year.
For the other eleven months, you can let it work on its own.
This is the annual calendar: it works by itself most of the time, but asks for help once in February.
Helping only once a year sounds very easy.
But when next February arrives, will you still remember?
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Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇HSK 2. Common verb used as 'tell someone something'. Structure: 告诉 + person + content.
HSK 2. Refers to the specific day, month, and year.
HSK 2. Adjective describing something normal or standard, not special.
HSK 1. Time word referring to the period after sunset.
HSK 2. Antonym of 难 (difficult).
HSK 2. Used to describe things that are not the same.
HSK 2. Indicates limitation or exclusivity.
HSK 2. Modal verb expressing expectation or correctness.
HSK 4. Verb indicating that something is real or present.
HSK 2. Can be used as a verb or noun. In the script: 'help it adjust'.
HSK 3. Refers to more than half of a group or amount.
HSK 4. Often used for mechanical settings or plans.
Proper noun. A famous Swiss luxury watch manufacturer.
Proper noun. The specific model name of the watch mentioned.
Technical term. A watch complication that accounts for months with 30 and 31 days.
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法不只……也……
Not only... but also... Used to connect two related facts or actions, emphasizing that both are true.
它不只告诉你几点，也告诉你日期。
有的……有的……
Some... some... Used to list different subsets within a larger group.
有的月有三十天，有的月有三十一天。
有的年份，二月有二十九天。
Number + 以后
After [Number/Time]. Indicates the sequence or time following a specific point.
一号以后是二号，二号以后是三号。
四月三十号以后，应该是五月一号。
不用……
No need to... / Don't have to... Expresses that an action is unnecessary.
人不用每个月都帮它。
让 + Person/Object + Verb
Let/Allow someone/something to do something. Indicates permission or causation.
其他十一个月，可以让它自己工作。
Proper nouns
专有名词Sources
来源Free account
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