A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
全美最抢手的十个地方，房子都不便宜——因为几乎没房可卖
America's Most Fought-Over ZIP Codes Are Not the Cheap Ones. They're the Ones With Nothing for Sale.
About this story
America's Most Fought-Over ZIP Codes Are Not the Cheap Ones. They're the Ones With Nothing for Sale. 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 贵、便宜、卖 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
In America, houses are expensive.
Houses now are more expensive than before.
In a lot of places, houses have all got more expensive.
Which places do people most want to buy houses in?
You think: the cheap places?
No.
In the places people most want to buy, the houses are not cheap.
So why does everyone want to buy there?
Listen.
In those places, there are hardly any houses for sale.
There are a great many people who want to buy a house.
There are very, very few houses for sale.
One house goes up for sale, and ten people want it.
So houses get more and more expensive.
In America, when a lot of houses sell, the money comes down a little.
In these places, when a house sells, the money goes up a little.
Where are these places?
They are all next to the big cities.
Think about it: where you live, are houses expensive?
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇想买房子的人 = people who want to buy a house.
最想买 = most want to buy.
很多很多 = a great many. 多一点 = a little more.
很少很少 = very, very few. The heart of the story.
钱会多一点 = the money goes up a little.
越来越贵 = more and more expensive.
The opposite of 贵, and the assumption this episode overturns.
在卖的房子 = houses that are for sale. Not HSK1 even though 买 is.
这些地方 = these places.
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法越来越 + adj
"more and more …". Change over time, no comparison word needed.
所以，房子越来越贵。
比……更……
"more … than …". 比 marks what is compared against.
现在的房子，比以前更贵。
一个……，十个……
Setting two numbers against each other to show the imbalance.
一个房子在卖，十个人都想要。
Proper Nouns
专有名词Sources
来源Free account
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