A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
黄石公园热泉区清出280多顶帽子
Yellowstone Finds 280 Hats in Hot-Spring Areas
About this story
Yellowstone staff found more than 280 hats among record trash collected near its hot springs. Learn why hats fall and why visitors should leave retrieval to staff. 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 8 key vocabulary words such as 公园、眼镜、钱 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
Yellowstone National Park in the United States has many very hot springs.
Many people visit because the water's colors are unusual.
They stand beside the water to look and cannot walk into it.
The water is too hot; going in is dangerous.
In 2026, the people working at the park faced a big problem.
They removed more than 20,000 pieces of trash from around the hot springs.
Among them were more than 280 hats.
Why were there so many hats?
At Yellowstone, the wind can be very strong.
Someone stands beside the water, a gust blows, and their hat falls off.
If they stand too close and the wind grows stronger, the hat may fall into the hot water.
They want their hat back, but the water is too hot.
Because it is so hot, they cannot walk in to get it.
When a hat falls, park staff go looking for it.
They find one and take it away, then another.
There are so many hats and so much trash that the staff are busy.
More than 280 hats were found this year alone.
After the hats, staff also found many other things.
Besides hats, they found glasses and money.
Glasses may have fallen from someone's head.
Some people may see the hot water and put money in it.
But hot springs are not places for people to put money.
The park workers have to remove that money.
Besides money, they must remove the other trash too.
Some trash is very small and hard to find.
Some looks like a tiny dot in the water.
So staff have to look slowly and carefully.
They removed more trash from the hot-spring areas than before.
The park says this is a new record for the year.
A hat in the hot water was not necessarily thrown there on purpose.
At Yellowstone, the wind sometimes blows a hat away.
However it got there, the workers still have to remove it.
They do this to help keep the park's hot springs in good condition.
What can visitors to Yellowstone do?
When you go to see the water, watch your belongings.
On windy days, you can hold your hat in your hand.
If the hat still falls, do not walk into the hot water yourself.
Tell a park worker; they know what to do.
Staff will wash hats that can still be worn and give them to others.
A hat found near the hot springs may get a new owner.
In strong wind, a hat can blow away in a second.
Getting it back takes much more time.
Next time you visit Yellowstone, will you check your hat before looking at the water?
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇美国的 Yellowstone 公园，有很多很热的水。
除了帽子，有眼镜，也有钱。
公园里工作的人要把钱拿走。
眼镜可能从一个人的头上掉下来。
其中有二百八十多顶帽子。
在 Yellowstone，风有时候很大。
他们从热水旁边拿出了两万多件垃圾。
找到帽子以后，工作人员还找到了很多别的东西。
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法因为
因为 gives a reason.
很多人来这里旅游，因为水的颜色很特别。
如果……不要……
如果 sets up a possible event, followed here by a warning.
如果帽子还是掉了，不要自己走进热水。
Proper Nouns
专有名词Sources
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