A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
拉斯维加斯111度，纽约93度，但医生说纽约更危险
Humidity Makes NYC Heat More Dangerous Than Vegas
About this story
Humidity Makes NYC Heat More Dangerous Than Vegas. HSK 1 Chinese listening practice.
This is an HSK 1 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 9 key vocabulary words such as 热、水、医生 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
Las Vegas is very, very hot today.
A hundred and eleven degrees.
New York is hot today too.
Ninety-three degrees.
A hundred and eleven is bigger than ninety-three.
So Las Vegas is hotter.
But doctors say: New York is worse.
Why?
Listen.
When a person is very hot, there is water on their body.
This water — we call it sweat.
Once the sweat comes out, the person is not so hot any more.
Las Vegas is a dry place.
Dry means there is no water.
In a dry place, the sweat comes out and then it is gone.
The person is not so hot any more.
New York is different.
New York is a wet place.
Wet means there is a lot of water.
In a wet place, the sweat comes out and does not leave.
The sweat stays on your body.
The person is still very hot.
So New York at ninety-three degrees is worse than Las Vegas at a hundred and eleven.
Doctors say: when it is hot, drink a lot of water.
Think about it: your place — is it dry, or is it wet?
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇很热很热 = very, very hot. Repeating an adjective intensifies it.
身上有水 = there is water on your body — how sweat is introduced.
医生说 = doctors say.
多喝水 = drink more water.
Sets up the explanation that follows.
Taught in the episode: the water that comes out on your body when you are hot.
Taught in the episode: 干，是没有水 — dry means there is no water.
Taught in the episode: 湿，是有很多水 — wet means there is a lot of water.
更热 = hotter. 更不好 = worse.
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法A 比 B + adj
The comparison pattern. What you compare to goes after 比.
一百一十一，比九十三大。
九十三度的 New York，比一百一十一度的 Las Vegas，更不好。
X，是……
The plainest definition frame. Used here to teach 干 and 湿.
干，是没有水。
湿，是有很多水。
……的时候
"when …". The clause goes before it.
人很热的时候，身上有水。
热的时候，要多喝水。
Proper nouns
专有名词Sources
来源Free account
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