A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
育碧的创始人，走了
Ubisoft Co-Founder Claude Guillemot Dies
About this story
The story of Claude, a Frenchman who, with his brothers, started the game company Ubisoft — and who just died in a small-plane crash — told slowly in beginner Chinese, with a gentle look at the unseen people behind the games we play. HSK 1 Chinese listening practice.
This is an HSK 1 Chinese listening episode that runs about 4 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 电脑、手机、公司 and walks through 7 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, we'll talk about a person.
This person —
you probably don't know him.
But
the things he made,
many people know.
What he made were games.
The kind
you play on the computer,
on the phone —
those games.
Have you ever played games?
Many people
have.
Some games are huge.
Many, many people play them.
The whole world plays them.
These big games —
where do they come from?
People make them.
Making a game
takes many people.
It takes a very, very long time.
Today,
the person we're talking about
is one
of these game-makers.
And
he was very important.
This person was French.
His name
was Claude.
Many years ago,
about forty years ago,
he and several of his brothers,
together,
started a company.
This company
made games.
The company's name
was Ubisoft.
You may never have heard
this name.
But Ubisoft's games —
you may well have played them.
Slowly,
this little company
grew bigger and bigger.
Later,
it became, in the world,
one of the biggest game companies.
One of them.
Many famous games
were made by it.
Claude
was one of the people who started the company.
One of them.
He rarely appeared on TV.
He didn't like to talk much, either.
But many things in the company
were managed by him.
You could say
he was, behind the company,
a very important person.
Just this week,
something happened.
That evening,
Claude
got on a small plane.
The plane was small.
On board,
there were only two people.
One was him,
one was the person flying the plane.
The plane,
in the west of France,
just as it was about to land,
had an accident.
It fell,
fell onto a field.
And then
it caught fire.
Both people
did not survive.
Claude
was sixty-nine this year.
Hearing this news,
many people were very sad.
Because
when they were little,
they had played the games he made.
You see,
every game we play,
behind it,
there are many people.
Some of them,
we can see.
Some of them,
like Claude,
we cannot see.
But
without them,
these games wouldn't exist.
Finally,
I want to ask you.
Your favorite game —
which one is it?
Do you know
who made it?
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇HSK 1 考纲词. 在电脑上，玩的游戏 = games you play on the computer.
HSK 2 考纲词. 在手机上 = on the phone.
HSK 2 考纲词. 开了一个公司 = started a company.
HSK 1. we; us.
HSK 1. they; them.
HSK 1. today.
HSK 3. 他做的，是游戏 = what he made were games. The whole episode is about who makes the games we play.
这个人，是法国人 = this person was French. Where Ubisoft was founded.
Proper noun. 公司的名字，叫育碧 = the company's name was Ubisoft.
HSK 3. 很多有名的游戏 = many famous games.
HSK 3. 他很重要 / 很重要的一个人 = he was very important; a very important person.
公司里很多事，都是他在管 = many things in the company were managed by him.
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法Verb + 过 (experiential aspect)
Marks that an action has been experienced before.
你玩过游戏吗？
但是育碧的游戏，你也许玩过。
越 + Verb + 越 + Adj (the more... the more...)
Expresses change in step.
这个小公司，越做越大。
...之一 (one of...)
Marks membership in a group.
最大的游戏公司，之一。
就是开公司的人，之一。
都是 + Subject + 在 + Verb (it is X who does it)
Focuses on who performs the action.
公司里很多事，都是他在管。
快要 ... 的时候 (just as / about to...)
Marks an action on the verge of happening.
快要落地的时候，出了事。
没能 + Verb (was unable to / failed to)
Negates an achieved result.
两个人，都没能活下来。
没有 X，就没有 Y (without X, there is no Y)
States dependence — used in the reflective close.
没有他们，就没有这些游戏。
Proper nouns
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