A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels

特朗普输掉中期选举
Trump Loses the Midterms: Iran War, Gas Prices and Immigration Cost Republicans Both Chambers
About this story
Trump's party loses both chambers of Congress after the Iran war, a 40% gas price rise and a deadly shooting — a beginner-level Chinese news story. 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 国家、现在、以后 and walks through 8 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
The president of the United States is Trump.
This week, the United States has an election.
The United States has a Congress.
Congress manages the country's affairs and is divided into two parts.
In this election, his party lost.
Both parts were lost.
In February, someone showed him some numbers.
These numbers said that the United States is doing very well now.
A few days later, the United States went to war with a country.
After the war began, more than twenty American soldiers died.
The U.S. government spent a lot of money on the war.
In total, more than 47 billion U.S. dollars.
Gas for driving also became expensive.
Gas became 40 percent more expensive.
Later, someone said to him:
War is bad, and the election will be lost.
A person who often speaks for him said:
This is the biggest mistake in twenty years.
In one place in the United States, a person died.
This person worked in a hospital and was thirty-seven years old.
The person who killed this person was someone from the government.
Before the election, he went to thirty places.
In four places, he told the people who like him to go and vote.
In these four places, his people all lost.
In September, gas became expensive again.
In one week, gas became sixteen cents more expensive.
Someone said to him: You need to say that everyone doesn't have enough money.
Trump said: Those numbers are fake.
The day before the election, he gave a speech.
He talked about the houses in Washington and the roads in Washington.
Later, he spoke with a newspaper.
He said: The biggest problem is that my name is not on the ballot.
A person who helps him said: This election is about money.
Now, another party controls Congress.
His party cannot control Congress anymore.
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Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇HSK 1. 国家的事 = the country's affairs.
HSK 1. 现在很好 = is doing very well now.
HSK 1. 几天以后 = a few days later; 打仗以后 = after the war began.
HSK 1. 花了很多钱 = spent a lot of money; 钱不够用 = not enough money to spend.
HSK 1. 油贵了 = gas became expensive; opposite is 便宜.
HSK 1. 一个地方 = one place; 三十个地方 = thirty places.
HSK 1. 在医院工作 = work in a hospital.
HSK 1. 这个人在医院工作 = this person works in a hospital.
HSK 3. 美国总统 = the U.S. president.
HSK 4. 这次选举 = this election; 中期选举 = midterm election.
HSK 5/6. 管国会 = control Congress; 分两个部分 = divided into two chambers.
Beyond HSK 4. 跟一个国家打仗 = go to war with a country.
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法Place/Person + 有 + Object
Expresses possession or existence: someone or somewhere has something.
美国有一个国会。
这个星期,美国有选举。
Noun + 分 + Number + 个 + Noun (partitive 分)
分 here means 'to divide into'; 分两个部分 = divided into two parts.
国会管国家的事,分两个部分。
Number + 多 + Measure word + Noun
多 after a number means 'more than / -odd': 二十多个 = more than twenty.
二十多个美国兵死了。
一共四百七十多亿美元。
Noun + 贵了 + Number + 百分之…
Adjective + 了 marks a change of state; 百分之… expresses a percentage.
油贵了百分之四十。
一个星期里,油贵了十六美分。
是…的 (emphatic 是…的 structure)
Highlights the doer or cause of an action; the 的 comes at the end of the clause.
打死这个人的,是政府的人。
这次选举,是钱的事。
让 + Person + Verb phrase
让 means 'to let / to have someone do something'.
他让喜欢他的人去选。
都 + Verb (all / both)
都 sums up a plural subject: both parts, all of them.
两个部分都输了。
这四个地方,他的人都输了。
不能 + Verb
Expresses inability or prohibition: cannot do something.
他的党不能管国会了。
Proper nouns
专有名词Sources
来源Free account
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