A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
西班牙和法国大火，三十多万人离开家
Wildfires in Spain and France: More Than 300,000 People Leave Home
About this story
An easy Chinese listening story: extreme heat set off big wildfires in Spain and France, over 300,000 people left home, fire neared the old city of Bordeaux, and other countries sent planes to help. HSK 2 Chinese listening practice.
This is an HSK 2 Chinese listening episode that runs about 1 minute. 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 11 key vocabulary words such as 天气、地方、离开 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
This summer, Europe has run into big trouble.
The weather is far too hot, wave after wave.
In Spain and France, big fires have broken out in many places.
The fires are huge, burning many mountains and many trees.
Because the fires are so big, many people can't stay home.
In Spain and France, more than 300,000 people in all have had to leave their homes.
Some people leave by day, and some are still leaving at night.
In Spain, because there are so many fires, the country says: this is very serious, everyone must be careful.
In France, a big fire is slowly moving toward a very famous old city.
This city is called Bordeaux, and many people have heard its name.
Everyone is afraid the fire will burn into the city.
Thankfully, many other countries have come to help.
They fly in planes to help France and Spain fight the fire together.
But the weather is still hot, and a new heatwave is coming again.
So right now, many people still can't go home.
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Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇天气太热了 = the weather is far too hot.
很多地方都起了大火 = fires broke out in many places.
都要离开自己的家 = all have to leave their homes.
开着飞机 = flying planes.
有的人白天走 = some people leave by day.
有的人晚上也在走 = some are still leaving at night.
很多别的国家都来帮忙 = many other countries came to help.
一个很有名的老城市 = a very famous old city.
大家一定要小心 = everyone must be careful.
大家都很怕 = everyone is afraid.
欧洲遇到了很大的麻烦 = Europe ran into big trouble.
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法因为……
因为 introduces a reason: "because …".
因为火太大，很多人不能在家了。
有的……，有的……
有的 A，有的 B = "some …, others …".
有的人白天走，有的人晚上也在走。
好在，……
好在 = "fortunately / the good thing is".
好在，很多别的国家都来帮忙了。
Proper Nouns
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