A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
一所肯塔基中学发的学生手册，把 Kentucky 印成了 Venecky。开学第一天，一个学生就发现了。
Kentucky School Planners Misspell State Name
About this story
Kentucky School Planners Misspell State Name. 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 学校、学生、买 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
In America there is a school.
The school gives students a book.
What is in the book?
In the book there is a map.
On the map there are many places.
The places all have names.
Students have to buy this book — ten dollars a book.
Right, now about one student.
He went to school, and he looked at this book.
He looked at that map, and he saw: the names are wrong.
This place’s name was spelled wrong.
That place’s name was spelled wrong too.
A great many names were all spelled wrong.
And the place he lives in himself?
The place he lives in is called Kentucky.
What the book says is Venecky.
The school is in Kentucky.
In the book, Kentucky is spelled wrong too.
He is small, but he saw it.
The grown-ups at the school did not see it.
Later, the student’s mother talked about it.
A lot of people said: who made this?
The school said: we are looking into it.
The school did not say who made it.
Think about it: one student, one look, and he saw it.
What were the grown-ups before him doing?
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇在美国，有一个学校 = in America there is a school.
学校给学生一个本子 = the school gives students a book.
这个本子，学生要买 = students have to buy this book.
一个本子十块钱 = ten dollars a book.
他很小，可是他看见了 = he is small, but he saw it.
学生的妈妈说了这个事 = the student’s mother talked about it.
学校给学生一个本子 = the school gives students a booklet.
本子里，有一个地图 = in the book there is a map.
地方，都有名字 = the places all have names.
名字，写错了 = the name was spelled wrong.
地图上有很多地方 = on the map there are many places.
他去上学 = he went to school.
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法……都……
"all / every one of them". Scales one fact up to a whole set.
地方，都有名字。
很多很多名字，都写错了。
可是
"but". The whole point of the episode sits in this one contrast.
他很小，可是他看见了。
Proper nouns
专有名词Sources
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