A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
《红粉联盟》里的女球员已经九十多岁，女孩子打棒球的时代终于来了
The Real 'League of Their Own' Players Are in Their 90s — and Girls' Baseball Is Finally Booming
About this story
From 1943 to 1954, more than 600 women played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League — then were forgotten, until the 1992 film 'A League of Their Own.' Only 22 are still alive, almost all in their 90s. This summer seven of them were cheered by hundreds of girls in Rockford, Illinois, the same weekend as Women's Baseball World Cup qualifiers and a girls' national tournament twice last year's size. 'We stand on your shoulders,' one organizer told them. Chinese listening practice at four levels. HSK 1 Chinese listening practice.
This is an HSK 1 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 电影、知道、高兴 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
Many years ago, in America, lots of women played baseball.
Did you know that?
It was from 1943 to 1954.
At that time, many men in America went off to war.
With the men away, women went and played baseball.
More than six hundred women played baseball.
Lots of people went to watch them play.
Then the men came back.
And the women stopped playing baseball.
For many years, they never talked about playing baseball.
One woman said: when I said I played ball, everyone assumed it wasn't baseball.
In 1992, America got a movie called "A League of Their Own."
The movie was about these women who played baseball.
Lots of people watched the movie and got to know them.
Now, twenty-two of these women are still alive.
They're very old — many of them are over ninety.
In 2026, seven of the old players went to a ballpark.
Nine hundred girls were there.
These girls all play baseball.
When the girls saw the old players, they were very happy and asked for their autographs.
A ninety-one-year-old player threw the first ball at the ballpark.
There was also a women's baseball competition there.
An eleven-year-old girl said: I want to play baseball for many, many years.
Now, many more girls play baseball than before.
One of the old players said: it's good now, but it needs to get better.
Women's baseball still has lots of problems.
If you were a girl, would you want to play baseball?
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇HSK 1. 一九九二年，美国有了一个电影，叫《红粉联盟》.
HSK 1. 很多人看了电影，知道了她们.
HSK 1. 女孩子们看见老球员，很高兴.
HSK 1. 女孩子们看见老球员.
HSK 1. 请她们写名字 — asking for autographs.
HSK 1. 一个九十一岁的老球员.
棒 (bat) + 球 (ball).
很多女人打棒球.
美国很多男人都去打仗了 — why the league began.
老球员 = former players.
有七个老球员去了一个球场.
大家都以为，那不是棒球 — 以为 means you thought something that wasn't true.
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法A 不在，B……
With A away, B… — cause in two short clauses.
男人不在，女人去打棒球。
比以前 + adjective + 了很多
Much more… than before.
现在，打棒球的女孩子，比以前多了很多。
……，可是还要更……
Good, but needs to be even more so.
一个老球员说：现在很好，可是还要更好。
Proper Nouns
专有名词Free account
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