A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
俄罗斯鼠疫研究所研究员实验事故后死亡，官方否认是鼠疫，却隔离了近两百人
A Russian Lab Worker Died After a Test Tube Broke at a Plague Institute. Russia Says It Wasn't Plague, but Quarantined 200 People.
About this story
A woman at a Russian plague lab died after a tube broke; Russia says it wasn't plague, yet 60 colleagues can't go home. 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 16 key vocabulary words such as 医院、医生、工作 and walks through 6 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
On September 25th, in Russia, a small tube broke.
People say there was something very bad in the tube.
In Russia, there is a big building.
The people in this building research an illness.
To research means to keep looking and keep thinking, wanting to know what something is.
What is an illness?
When you feel very bad and need to go to the hospital, you have an illness.
The illness the people in this building research is called plague.
Plague is a very, very bad illness.
Many years ago, many, many people got plague and died.
To die means a person has gone and can't come back.
Plague is fast: one person has it, and then many people have it.
Now there is medicine.
Medicine is something a doctor tells you to take.
When you're ill, you take medicine and get better.
With plague, if you take medicine quickly, you get better.
In that building, there was a woman who worked there; she was twenty-eight.
She worked in this building, researching plague.
On September 25th, while she was working, a tube broke.
Was there plague in the tube?
On September 29th, she felt very bad and went to the hospital.
Her lungs were in very bad shape.
肺 means lungs.
On October 2nd, she died.
She was twenty-eight, and she died.
Russia said: she didn't have plague.
Russia said: her lungs were bad, and we don't know what illness this is.
But look at what Russia did.
Two hundred people had been with her.
Doctors are watching these two hundred people now.
In the building, more than sixty people worked with her.
These sixty-plus people can't go home; they have to live in the building.
Several hospitals also can't be visited now.
Many people wonder: if she didn't have plague, why can't the people in the building go home?
America is watching too.
America said: we want to know what illness this is.
Doctors say: if it's plague, you can tell in a day or two.
So far, none of those two hundred people has plague.
So some doctors say: probably not many people have plague.
But everyone is waiting.
Did she have plague?
Russia says no.
But those sixty-plus people are still living in the building and can't go home.
Think about it: if you worked in that building and couldn't go home, what would you want to say to your family?
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇HSK 1. 去了医院.
HSK 1. 医生现在都在看.
HSK 1. 她在这个大楼里工作.
HSK 1. 我们不知道这是什么病.
HSK 1. 现在，有药了.
HSK 1. 一个很不好的东西.
HSK 1. 她工作的时候.
HSK 1. 这是什么病.
一个很不好很不好的病.
你有了病.
她死了.
吃了药，会好.
一个管子破了.
管子破了.
她的肺，很不好.
研究鼠疫.
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法X，是 Y
Defines a word.
死，是一个人走了，不能回来了。
药，是医生叫你吃的东西。
有没有……？
Is there / did she have …?
她有没有鼠疫？
如果……，……
If….
医生说：如果是鼠疫，一两天就能看出来。
不能 + verb
Cannot / not allowed to.
这六十多个人，不能回家，要住在大楼里。
……的时候
When….
九月二十五号，她工作的时候，一个管子破了。
可是……
But….
可是，你看俄罗斯做了什么。
Proper nouns
专有名词Free account
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