A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
他在一场 Zoom 会议上开掉了九百个人。今年他自己被开掉了，现在他想回去。
He Fired 900 People on One Zoom Call. This Year He Was Fired Himself — and Now He Wants the Job Back.
About this story
He Fired 900 People on One Zoom Call. This Year He Was Fired Himself — and Now He Wants the Job Back. 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 11 key vocabulary words such as 公司、开会、电脑 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
There is a company, and the company has a boss.
A lot of people work at the company.
One time, the boss called everyone to a meeting.
Not a meeting at the company.
A meeting on Zoom.
Zoom means: everyone sees the other people on a computer.
That time, nine hundred people were on the Zoom.
Nine hundred people.
The boss did not say much. It was quick.
He said: you are not coming in to work.
Nine hundred people, one meeting, and no more job.
Everyone said: this boss is not a good man.
In August, the company said: you are not coming in either.
The boss himself was gone too.
Later, what did this boss do?
He wants to come back.
He said: this company is the company I made.
I want to come back to work.
He also said: the money, I do not need it.
One dollar a year, and I will still come.
Will the company want him back?
Right now, nobody knows.
Think about it: he told nine hundred people to go.
Later, the company told him to go.
Now, he wants to come back.
What do you make of that?
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇有一个公司 = there is a company.
老板叫大家开会 = the boss called everyone to a meeting.
大家在电脑上，看见别的人 = everyone sees the others on a computer.
就没有工作了 = and no more job.
他想回来 = he wants to come back.
钱，我可以不要 = the money, I do not need it.
一年一块钱 = one dollar a year.
公司有一个老板 = the company has a boss.
你们，不来上班了 = you are not coming in to work.
他叫九百个人走 = he told nine hundred people to go.
老板自己，也走了 = the boss himself was gone too.
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法叫 + somebody + verb
"to tell somebody to do X". The same verb runs the whole story, in both directions.
老板叫大家开会。
他叫九百个人走。
就
"and just like that". Compresses cause and effect into one beat.
九百个人，一个会，就没有工作了。
会不会……？
Verb + 不 + verb makes a yes-or-no question without 吗.
公司会不会要他回来？
Proper Nouns
专有名词Sources
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