A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
瑞士点球赢了哥伦比亚
Switzerland Beat Colombia on Penalties
About this story
A beginner Chinese listening lesson on the World Cup last 16: Switzerland 0-0 Colombia, and Switzerland win the penalty shootout. Simple HSK 1 sentences about a tense, goalless game.
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 7 key vocabulary words such as 进球、守、加时 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
Today let's talk about a soccer game.
This game was very long.
There are two teams.
One team is called Switzerland.
One team is called Colombia.
Both teams want to win.
Switzerland wants to win.
Colombia wants to win too.
Score a goal, and you get a point.
The team with more points wins.
Many people came to watch today.
So very many people.
Everyone wants to watch these two teams.
Both teams really want to win.
Both teams want to score.
Everyone sits there watching.
Watching these two teams.
Watching that ball.
Alright, the game began.
Both teams really wanted to score.
But both teams defended very well.
In the first half, neither team scored.
In the second half, it was still zero to zero.
The game went on a long time with no goals.
The time was up, and it was still zero to zero.
The two teams played a bit more.
This is called extra time.
But still no one scored.
So what do they do?
They have to take penalties.
One player shoots, one player keeps goal.
They shoot one by one.
Whoever scores more wins.
At this point, everyone was very nervous.
Both teams shot well.
In the end, Switzerland scored more.
Switzerland won!
Switzerland's fans were so happy.
Actually, Switzerland hadn't gone this far in a very, very long time.
For many, many years.
So everyone was especially happy.
Colombia played very well too.
But they lost the shootout.
Colombia was very sad.
This was a very important game.
Lose, and you go home.
So Colombia had to go home.
Switzerland can go on to the next match.
Today, the two teams drew zero to zero.
In the end, Switzerland won on penalties.
That was today's game.
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇考纲词。挡住对方、不让他们进球。两个队都守得很好。
考纲词。心里很紧、放不下。这个时候大家都很紧张。
考纲词。心里很高兴。大家都特别开心。
考纲词。心里不好受。哥伦比亚很难过。
把球踢进门。两个队都没有进球。
时间到了还是平局，就再多踢一会儿。这叫加时。
一个人踢，一个人守门。他们要踢点球。
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法谁也没有…
'Nobody …' — used when neither side does something.
上半场，谁也没有进球。
那怎么办呢？
'So what do they do?' — a rhetorical setup before the answer.
还是零比零。那怎么办呢？
谁…谁就…
'Whoever … , that one …' — a general rule.
谁进的球多，谁就赢。
Proper Nouns
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