A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
联合国投票换掉世界地图：因为这张地图，把非洲画小了四百五十年
UN Backs World Map That Shows Africa's True Size
About this story
The UN General Assembly voted 164-1 to adopt the Equal Earth projection, after 450 years in which the Mercator map made Africa look a fraction of its real size — Greenland appears nearly as large, though Africa is about 14 times bigger. Chinese listening practice at four levels. HSK 1 Chinese listening practice.
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 12 key vocabulary words such as 学校、大、看 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 we are talking about a map.
Is there a map in your school?
A lot of schools have one big map on the wall.
There are many countries on the map.
You have looked at that map for years.
Today, let's think about it.
On the map, look at Africa.
Africa has many countries in it.
On the map, Africa does not look very big.
A lot of people look at the map and think: Africa is not big.
But that is wrong.
The real Africa is very, very big.
How big is Africa?
Listen.
China is big.
China can fit inside Africa.
America is big too.
America fits inside as well.
India fits inside too.
China, America and India — all of them fit inside.
And Africa is still big.
Did you expect that?
But on the map, you cannot see any of it.
Why is this map wrong?
Listen.
This map is very, very old.
More than four hundred years ago, a man drew it.
He drew the map for ships.
Ships sail on the sea, and people need to know the way.
This map could show them the way.
So out at sea, this map is very good.
But in a school, this map is not good.
Because it draws Africa far too small.
For four hundred and fifty years, people have looked at this map.
Children look at it in school.
Adults look at it in books.
And a lot of them think: Africa is not big.
But Africa is very big.
Last week, a lot of countries said something.
They said: we want a new map.
A hundred and sixty-four countries said yes.
One country said no.
So they are going to use the new map.
On the new map, Africa is big.
Some people say the old map is still useful.
Out at sea, the old map is still very good.
They are right about that.
The new map is for schools.
The old map is for ships.
Think about it: when you were small, there was a map in your school.
You looked at it for years.
Did you ever wonder whether it was right?
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇HSK 1. Where the map hangs, and why it matters: 很多学校里，都有一张大地图。
HSK 1. The entire episode is an argument about this one word.
HSK 1. 这张地图，你看了很多年 — looking without questioning is the point.
HSK 1. The closing question turns on it: 你想过它对不对吗？
HSK 1. Where adults keep meeting the same map: 大人在书上看。
HSK 1. Why the old map existed at all: 船在海上走，人要知道路。
HSK 3, above the floor. The subject of the whole episode, repeated throughout so it lands.
Grounded immediately: 非洲有很多国家。
HSK 3. What the map is covered in, and who voted at the end.
HSK 2. Who the old map was actually made for: 他画地图，是给船用的。
HSK 4. The verb the whole complaint rests on: 它把非洲，画得太小了。
Carries the size demonstration: 中国可以放进非洲里。
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法把 + object + verb + 得 + 太……了
Says something was done to an excessive degree. It is how the episode states the whole complaint in one sentence.
因为它把非洲，画得太小了。
A 可以放进 B 里
A fits inside B. The directional 进 does the work, and the episode stacks this three times to make the scale physical rather than numerical.
中国可以放进非洲里。
美国也可以放进去。
印度也可以放进去。
给……用的
States what something is for. It is the pivot of the episode: the map is not wrong, it was made for ships.
他画地图，是给船用的。
新地图，给学校用。
老地图，给船用。
Proper nouns
专有名词Sources
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