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。
A Kentucky School Handed Out Planners That Spell Kentucky "Venecky". A Student Spotted It on Day One.
About this story
A Kentucky School Handed Out Planners That Spell Kentucky "Venecky". A Student Spotted It on Day One. 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 12 key vocabulary words such as 开学、课表、发现 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, when school starts, students are given a booklet.
It has a timetable, and also a map of America with the name of every state on it.
The booklet is not free — families pay ten dollars a year for it.
Right, now this year’s news.
One student opened the booklet on the first day of school.
He looked at that map, and at the state names on it.
Then he found: the state names were spelled wrong.
Not one of them wrong — a lot of them.
The funniest part is the state he lives in himself.
He lives in Kentucky.
On the map, Kentucky had been printed as a different word.
A school had printed the name of its own state wrong.
Parents later found that it was not only the map that was wrong.
This student saw it on day one.
But this booklet was made first, then printed, then handed to several hundred students.
A lot of grown-ups in between, and not one of them saw it.
Parents are now all asking the same question: who actually made this booklet?
Was it made by a machine?
The Kentucky school says it is talking to parents about it.
But as of today, the school has not said who made it, nor whether a machine made it.
Think about it: a mistake a student spots at a glance — how did it get printed?
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇学校开学的时候 = when school starts.
本子里有课表 = it has a timetable.
然后他发现 = then he found.
是不是机器做的？ = was it made by a machine?
都在问同一个问题 = all asking the same question.
每个州的名字 = the name of every state.
把肯塔基印成了另一个词 = printed Kentucky as a different word.
家长每年要出十块钱 = families pay ten dollars a year.
一眼就看出来的错 = a mistake spotted at a glance.
一张美国地图 = a map of America.
州的名字写错了 = the state names were spelled wrong.
他住在肯塔基 = he lives in Kentucky.
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法不是白给的
白 + verb = to do something for nothing. So 不是白给 = it is not free.
这个本子不是白给的。
是不是……？
"is it or is it not X?" A neutral yes-or-no question.
是不是机器做的？
一……就……
"as soon as A, then B" — here, one glance and it was seen.
一个学生一眼就看出来的错
Proper Nouns
专有名词Sources
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