A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
湖北男子照盗墓小说挖古墓，被判十二年
A Hubei Man Copies Tomb-Robbing Novels and Gets Twelve Years in Prison
About this story
A Hubei man read tomb-robbing novels, bought tools, dug two ancient tombs, and was sentenced to twelve years in prison. 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 12 key vocabulary words such as 说、人、去 and walks through 4 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
There is a man in Hubei whose surname is Yu.
He loves reading novels very much.
People in the novels go to dig up ancient tombs and take things.
He read many of them and also wanted to do it himself.
He read books to learn, and he also bought tools.
Then he and other people went together to Hubei to dig up ancient tombs.
They dug twice and dug out some things.
The court said he had committed a crime.
The court sentenced him to twelve years in prison.
Many of the people and events in novels are fake.
Reading books and going to dig up ancient tombs are two different things.
The things in ancient tombs are cultural relics.
Cultural relics are things that people used a very long time ago.
These cultural relics can let people know about things from the past.
But he took things away, and the ancient tomb was also damaged by his digging.
Him reading novels is okay.
Him going to dig up ancient tombs himself is a crime.
You read a novel and also want to do the things in the book — who would you tell about this?
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Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇HSK 1. Used to report what someone says: 法院说…… (The court said...).
HSK 1. Appears in 湖北有一个人 and 小说里的人.
HSK 1. Used before a place or action: 去湖北挖古墓.
HSK 1. 看书 means to read a book; 看小说 means to read novels.
HSK 1. Refers to objects: 拿东西, 挖出一些东西.
HSK 1. Used in 小说 (novel), literally 'small talk/story'.
HSK 1. Appears in 看书学习 and 看书和去挖古墓.
HSK 2. Expresses permission or possibility: 他看小说，可以。
Beyond HSK 2. 古 means ancient, 墓 means tomb. Central to the story: 挖古墓.
Beyond HSK 2. Official term for historical objects: 古墓里的东西，是文物。
Beyond HSK 2. 法 law + 院 institution. Appears in 法院说 and 法院判.
Beyond HSK 2. Literally 'sit in prison'. 判他坐牢十二年 means sentenced him to twelve years in prison.
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法Place + 有 + Person
Expresses existence: 'In [place] there is [person]'. Used to introduce the main character.
湖北有一个人，姓余。
想 + Verb Phrase
Expresses desire or intention: 'want to do something'.
他看了很多，也想自己去做。
你看了小说，也想去做书里的事，你会和谁说这件事？
和 + Person + 一起
Means 'together with someone'. 和 introduces the companion, 一起 means together.
然后他和别人一起，去湖北挖古墓。
是 + Noun Phrase
Basic equational sentence: 'A is B'. Used to define or classify.
古墓里的东西，是文物。
看书和去挖古墓，是两件事。
Proper nouns
专有名词Sources
来源Free account
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