A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
Photo: The White House · Public domain
习近平十一年来首访华盛顿：隆重欢迎、一对大熊猫，和延长两个月的贸易休战
Xi's First Washington Visit in 11 Years: Pageantry, a Pair of Pandas and a Two-Month Trade Truce
About this story
Chinese President Xi Jinping's three-day state visit to Washington (Sept 23–25, 2026) returned Donald Trump's May trip to Beijing. Trump met him at the plane; Xi said AI must stay under human control and competition should be a race, not a wrestling match; a harpist played 'The Moon Represents My Heart' at the state dinner. China's foreign ministry listed eight points, including a two-month trade-truce extension, an AI dialogue and incident hotline, and two pandas loaned to Zoo Atlanta — while US analysts called it big on spectacle, light on substance. 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 机场、朋友、问题 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
This week, China's Xi Jinping went to America.
It was US President Trump who invited him.
In May, Trump went to Beijing.
Four months later, Xi Jinping went to Washington in America.
It's Xi Jinping's first visit to Washington in eleven years.
Xi Jinping flew to Washington.
Trump and his wife waited for him at the airport.
It's rare for an American president to wait at the airport for someone.
Xi Jinping's visit to America lasted three days.
On the second day, the two men met at the White House and talked a lot.
Trump said: Xi Jinping and I are very good friends.
Xi Jinping said: China and America are different, but by talking more, we can understand each other better.
He also said: our two countries can compete, but it should be like a running race, with everyone running forward together.
Not like a fight, where one wins and one loses.
In the evening, Trump invited Xi Jinping to dinner.
Before the dinner, someone played a Chinese song called "The Moon Represents My Heart."
Lots of Chinese people can sing this song.
On the third day, they had tea together, and then went together to see some very old American documents.
Trump joked: America has two hundred and fifty years; China has six thousand.
So what did they agree on in these three days?
First, doing business between China and America has had lots of problems.
Last year, the two countries agreed to stop fighting for a while.
This time they said: this agreement gets two more months, until January next year.
Second, they agreed to talk about AI regularly.
If something goes wrong with AI, they'll tell each other right away.
Third, China is lending two giant pandas to a zoo in America.
This year, they'll meet twice more.
They'll meet in China in November, and in America in December.
But some American experts say: in these three days there was lots to look at, but not much that was new.
On many hard questions, the two countries still think very differently.
Do you think it helps when the leaders of two countries meet often?
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇HSK 2. 特朗普和他的太太，在机场等他.
HSK 1. 我和习近平是很好的朋友.
HSK 2. 中国和美国做生意，以前有很多问题.
HSK 1. 习近平坐飞机到了华盛顿.
HSK 1. 他们一起喝茶.
HSK 1. 第三天，他们一起喝茶.
十一年来，习近平第一次去华盛顿访问.
美国总统去机场等人，是很少见的.
多说话，就能多了解对方.
要常常谈人工智能.
中国把两只大熊猫借给美国的一个动物园.
也有美国专家说：新的东西不多.
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法像……，不要像……
Should be like X, not like Y — Xi's image of competition.
他还说：两个国家可以比赛，可是要像跑步比赛，大家一起往前跑。
不要像打架，一个人赢，一个人输。
把 + object + 借给 + someone
To lend something to someone.
第三，中国把两只大熊猫借给美国的一个动物园。
……来，第一次……
The first time in (a period).
这是十一年来，习近平第一次去华盛顿访问。
Proper Nouns
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