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 2 Chinese listening practice.
This is an HSK 2 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 电影、电视、开始 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
Have you seen the movie "A League of Their Own"?
The movie is about a group of women who played baseball, and the story is true.
From 1943 to 1954, America had a professional women's baseball league.
Back then, many American men had gone off to war, including many male ballplayers.
So women started playing professional baseball.
More than six hundred women played in the league in all.
But after the men came home from the war, people became less and less interested in women playing baseball.
Later, every home got a TV, and people didn't go to ballparks much anymore.
In 1954, the league came to an end.
For many years, these players put their gloves and uniforms away at home and stopped talking about it.
One 94-year-old former player said: when you told people you played ball, they all assumed you played softball.
So after a while, she stopped mentioning it.
In 1992, the movie "A League of Their Own" came out, and people learned their story all over again.
Now, of the more than six hundred players, only twenty-two are still alive, and many are over ninety.
This summer, seven of the old players came to a very old ballpark, where a women's team played many years ago.
Hundreds of girls who play baseball sat on the field; when they saw the old players they were thrilled, and lined up for autographs.
A 91-year-old former player even threw the first pitch.
That same weekend, the city was also hosting Women's Baseball World Cup games, with six countries taking part.
Nearby there was also a girls' baseball tournament, with nearly twice as many players as last year.
A woman who organizes the tournament told the old players: we stand on your shoulders.
An eleven-year-old girl said: I want to keep playing baseball.
Now, women's sports are getting more and more popular in America.
Since 2024, ten new professional women's leagues have started.
This year a new professional women's baseball league also began playing.
But its first year hasn't been easy: each game sold fewer than two thousand tickets.
The 94-year-old former player said: I'm glad women's baseball has come this far, but it needs to go further.
Do you think girls should play baseball, or softball?
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇HSK 1. 你看过电影《红粉联盟》吗？
HSK 1. 后来，家家都有了电视 — one reason fans stayed home.
HSK 2. 女人们开始打职业棒球.
HSK 1. 我很高兴，可是还要走得更远.
HSK 2. 你觉得，女孩子应该打棒球，还是打垒球？
HSK 2. 二零二四年以后，已经有十个新的女人职业联盟.
职业棒球联盟 — a professional league.
Also the 联盟 in the film title 《红粉联盟》.
HSK 3. 大家对女人打棒球，越来越没有兴趣了.
他们都以为你打的是垒球.
排队请她们签名.
我们站在你们的肩膀上 — "we stand on your shoulders."
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法越来越 + adjective
More and more (here: less and less interested).
可是，男人打完仗回来以后，大家对女人打棒球，越来越没有兴趣了。
以为……
To assume, usually wrongly.
一个九十四岁的老球员说：你跟别人说你打过球，他们都以为你打的是垒球。
A 还是 B？
Or — in a question that offers a choice.
你觉得，女孩子应该打棒球，还是打垒球？
Proper Nouns
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