Fluentide · Chinese Listening — HSK 1

Chinese singer, composer and music educator Liu Huan died of illness in Shanghai at 9:52 a.m. on 25 September 2026, aged 63, per the University of International Business and Economics, where he taught from July 1991 until retiring in September 2023 (associate professor; taught Western Music History; composed the school song). Born August 1963 in Tianjin; studied French at the University of International Relations 1981-85, taught himself piano on an unused campus piano at lunchtime, won Beijing university English- and French-song contests in 1985, and stayed on to teach. Known for 少年壮志不言愁 (1987, TV drama 便衣警察), 好汉歌 (1998, 水浒传; lyric 风风火火闯九州) and the 2008 Beijing Olympics theme 我和你 with Sarah Brightman. In 2019 he personally funded an original-music charity fund. Per his wishes, no funeral committee, farewell ceremony or memorial service. Cause of death not stated.

Liu Huan, Who Sang the 2008 Beijing Olympics Theme 'You and Me,' Dies at 63

HSK 1 level · 2:31

• 老师 (lǎoshī) — teacher
• 学生 (xuésheng) — student
• 中午 (zhōngwǔ) — noon
• 电视 (diànshì) — television
• 知道 (zhīdào) — to know
• 喜欢 (xǐhuan) — to like
• 唱歌 (chànggē) — to sing
• 去世 (qùshì) — to pass away

• ……的时候，…… — When / at the time of.
• A，也 B — Adds a second role or fact.
• A 还是 B / A 和 B，哪一……？ — Asking someone to choose.

Get more from this episode at fluentide.com:

• Read the full interactive transcript — tap any word for instant pinyin + definition
• Toggle pinyin on/off above the Chinese text
• See the complete English translation side-by-side
• Save vocabulary to your personal word bank

Open this episode on Fluentide →

Xi Jinping's 23-25 September 2026 state visit to Washington, his first formal visit in 11 years and a reciprocal visit after Trump's May trip to Beijing. Trump and Melania greeted Xi and Peng Liyuan at Joint Base Andrews; White House ceremony with talk of a 'truly great friendship'; Xi said AI must stay under human control and competition should be a race, not a wrestling match; per Xinhua Xi raised Taiwan and Iran. State dinner with tech CEOs; a harpist played The Moon Represents My Heart. Tea and a National Archives visit (Trump: 250 years vs 6,000). China's foreign ministry published an eight-point consensus: constructive strategic stability; mutual support for APEC Shenzhen (Nov) and G20 Miami (Dec); Iran should honour its no-nuclear-weapons commitment and no one may charge tolls on international waterways; WWII allies; trade council and a $30bn reciprocal tariff-cut arrangement; drug-enforcement cooperation; an AI dialogue (next round in November) and an AI-incident channel; a pair of pandas loaned to Zoo Atlanta. Bessent: the Busan trade truce extended to 10 January. Analysts (CFR's James Lindsay, CNBC) saw pageantry over substance; differences on Taiwan, Iranian oil and Ukraine remain.

Xi's First Washington Visit in 11 Years: Pageantry, a Pair of Pandas and a Two-Month Trade Truce

HSK 1 level · 2:32

• 飞机 (fēijī) — airplane
• 住 (zhù) — to stay, live
• 工作 (gōngzuò) — to work
• 喝 (hē) — to drink
• 茶 (chá) — tea
• 星期 (xīngqī) — week
• 总统 (zǒngtǒng) — president
• 白宫 (Báigōng) — the White House

• 是……的 — Stresses who, when or how something happened.
• A 请 B + verb — A invites B to do something.
• ……，你说有用吗？ — A casual way to ask someone's opinion.

Get more from this episode at fluentide.com:

• Read the full interactive transcript — tap any word for instant pinyin + definition
• Toggle pinyin on/off above the Chinese text
• See the complete English translation side-by-side
• Save vocabulary to your personal word bank

Open this episode on Fluentide →

Some large cargo ships have recently paid up to $5 million to transit the 50-mile Panama Canal, which carries almost 6% of global trade; new administrator Ilya Espino de Marotta calls it a record. About 90% of traffic books slots months ahead; a few slots are auctioned (base $100,000, this season's average about $380,000, versus about $150,000 from Oct 2025 to Mar 2026; some summer bids topped $1 million). Drivers: the Iran war rerouted energy flows, lifting Asian demand for US Gulf LNG (Xeneta's Peter Sand: shortages worsening in Asia; gas carriers rarely book ahead), and El Niño-linked extreme weather cut daily transits to 32 (from 38-41 earlier this year, 34-36 before the war). The canal's locks lift ships almost 90 feet using rainwater from Gatún Lake, which also supplies Panamanians' drinking water; low levels force lighter loads and a 1-6% freshwater surcharge (canal chairman José Ramón Icaza). The canal is 6% of Panama's economy and 20 cents of every government revenue dollar, over $3 billion a year.

Crossing the Panama Canal Now Costs Up to $5 Million, as War and Drought Push Prices to a Record

HSK 1 level · 2:52

• 钱 (qián) — money
• 水 (shuǐ) — water
• 喝 (hē) — to drink
• 买 (mǎi) — to buy
• 衣服 (yīfu) — clothes
• 电脑 (diànnǎo) — computer
• 船 (chuán) — ship
• 海 (hǎi) — sea, ocean

• 一个是……，还有一个，是…… — Lists two reasons in plain spoken style.
• A 多，B 少 — Sets two amounts side by side to show cause.
• V不V？ — A yes-or-no question made by repeating the verb.

Get more from this episode at fluentide.com:

• Read the full interactive transcript — tap any word for instant pinyin + definition
• Toggle pinyin on/off above the Chinese text
• See the complete English translation side-by-side
• Save vocabulary to your personal word bank

Open this episode on Fluentide →

Monarch butterflies (about one gram) migrate across North America, but no individual completes the round trip. Larvae feed only on milkweed, whose cardiac glycosides make them toxic; their orange-and-black colouring is a warning (per Beijing Forestry University associate professor Han Peng, blue jays that have eaten one avoid orange-and-black butterflies 97% of the time; writer Diane Ackerman called monarchs genius chemists). In spring, millions overwintering on firs and pines in central Mexico head north, flying 100+ km a day (300-400 km with good updrafts), mating and laying eggs on milkweed, then dying; it takes three or four generations to reach the northern US and southern Canada, nearly 5,000 km from the overwintering grounds. The autumn 'Methuselah' generation delays reproduction, lives seven to nine months, and flies about 4,000 km south over two months using a sun compass and magnetic sensing to reach Mexico, where they cluster through winter.

No Monarch Butterfly Ever Finishes Its Own Migration — the Trip Takes Four Generations

HSK 1 level · 3:10

• 妈妈 (māma) — mother
• 女儿 (nǚ'ér) — daughter
• 天气 (tiānqì) — weather
• 冷 (lěng) — cold
• 热 (rè) — hot, warm
• 喜欢 (xǐhuan) — to like
• 蝴蝶 (húdié) — butterfly
• 飞 (fēi) — to fly

• V不完 / V不了 — Cannot finish / cannot manage — the heart of the story.
• ……才…… — Only then — stresses how long it takes.
• 和……不一样 — Different from.

Get more from this episode at fluentide.com:

• Read the full interactive transcript — tap any word for instant pinyin + definition
• Toggle pinyin on/off above the Chinese text
• See the complete English translation side-by-side
• Save vocabulary to your personal word bank

Open this episode on Fluentide →

This summer, excavations to shore up the Hôtel-Dieu hospital on the Île de la Cité in central Paris uncovered a 72-foot (22 m) stone-and-wood wall, typical of late Iron Age Gallic fortifications, plus a Gallic spearhead. Culture minister Catherine Pégard (statement, 23 Sep 2026) called it one of the most important remains ever found for understanding Gallic Lutetia, Paris's Latin name. Julius Caesar's account of the Gallic Wars (58-50 BC) put Lutetia, town of the Parisii, on an island in the Seine; the Gauls burned it and cut its bridges before Rome took it in 52 BC. Scholars long doubted the Île de la Cité location; some argued for Nanterre after 1990s finds. Archaeologist Matthieu Poux (Lyon II) says he now has no doubt. Initial carbon dating: 200-10 BC; traces of fire, charred seeds, a burned wooden building. Roman Lutetia is well documented (Latin Quarter, Luxembourg Gardens); the dig multiplied Gallic-era data tenfold. The wall will be moved for study and display; mayor Emmanuel Grégoire says Paris will share it.

A 2,000-Year-Old Wall Dug Up Under a Paris Hospital May Show Where Paris Began

HSK 1 level · 2:52

• 医院 (yīyuàn) — hospital
• 书 (shū) — book
• 老师 (lǎoshī) — teacher, professor
• 知道 (zhīdào) — to know
• 漂亮 (piàoliang) — beautiful
• 喜欢 (xǐhuan) — to like
• 墙 (qiáng) — wall
• 挖 (wā) — to dig

• 有 + 多少 + 年了？ — Asks how long something has existed; the answer drops the verb: 两千多年了.
• 就是…… — Exactly, precisely — used for the answer to the mystery.
• 和……一样 — The same as — how the evidence matches the book.

Get more from this episode at fluentide.com:

• Read the full interactive transcript — tap any word for instant pinyin + definition
• Toggle pinyin on/off above the Chinese text
• See the complete English translation side-by-side
• Save vocabulary to your personal word bank

Open this episode on Fluentide →

Jay Jones, 39, a Chicago-area copywriter laid off from advertising in late 2023 who calls himself The Profiler, has tracked nearly 60,000 fake job listings (mostly LinkedIn, some Teal) and flagged ~7,000 scam profiles. Example: five 'Linda Anthony' recruiter profiles at 'Confidential Jobs' with the same photo, new accounts and matching URL suffixes — bulk-created; they vanished after he posted ('you turn the lights on and the roaches run'). Scams charge for resume help or harvest driver's licenses and SSNs. Hijacked verified profiles (e.g. a Chilean dentist) were listed at Argenta Talent Acquisition, a one-woman Colorado firm run by Kelley Barcus; LinkedIn's 14-day appeal window angered Jones. LinkedIn says AI stops nearly all scams; blocked ~90 million fake accounts in H2 2025; partnered with the FBI; rolling out instant disaffiliation for verified employers. 27% of the unemployed had searched 6+ months in August. Jones drives Uber, trains cybersecurity staff, has two young children.

Laid Off and Still Job Hunting, He Has Helped Pull Nearly 60,000 Fake Jobs Off LinkedIn

HSK 1 level · 2:54

• 工作 (gōngzuò) — job; to work
• 钱 (qián) — money
• 电脑 (diànnǎo) — computer
• 名字 (míngzi) — name
• 看见 (kànjiàn) — to see, to spot
• 知道 (zhīdào) — to know
• 找 (zhǎo) — to look for
• 假 (jiǎ) — fake

• 有的……，有的…… — Some…, others… — splits a group into two kinds.
• 一……，就…… — As soon as X, Y. Jay's line about scammers vanishing.
• 快 + number + 了 — Almost / nearly reaching a number.

Get more from this episode at fluentide.com:

• Read the full interactive transcript — tap any word for instant pinyin + definition
• Toggle pinyin on/off above the Chinese text
• See the complete English translation side-by-side
• Save vocabulary to your personal word bank

Open this episode on Fluentide →

The Economist's Bartleby column (17 Sep 2026, 'Sleep like a pro') is a satirical fictional internal memo reporting a company's 'Sleep Into The Future' pilot: a 'Waking Hours' trial of pre-industrial segmented sleep (wake at 2am, work two hours, sleep again), a salesperson's second sleep during a client meeting, 3am messages cascading into earlier starts for everyone, sleep trackers one-fifth couldn't operate and whose data made people anxious, eye masks, a weighted blanket needing the fire brigade, a magnesium overdose, lavender spray litigation; recommendation: don't compel, don't track at night, 'we should sleep on it'. Episode states clearly it is satire. Real facts woven in: historian A. Roger Ekirch (Virginia Tech) found 500+ references to first and second sleep, fading by the 1920s with artificial lighting; 'orthosomnia' coined 2017 by Rush University researchers (Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine) for tracker-driven sleep anxiety.

The Economist's Joke Memo: A Company Tries to Fix Its Staff's Sleep, and Everything Goes Wrong

HSK 1 level · 3:05

• 睡觉 (shuìjiào) — to sleep
• 起床 (qǐchuáng) — to get up
• 工作 (gōngzuò) — to work; job
• 医生 (yīshēng) — doctor
• 高兴 (gāoxìng) — happy
• 时候 (shíhou) — time, when
• 笑话 (xiàohua) — joke
• 公司 (gōngsī) — company

• V + 得 + 好 / 不好 — Judges how well something is done. With a verb-object word like 睡觉, repeat the verb: 睡觉睡得不好.
• 再也 + 不 / 没 + V — Never again — the strongest way to say something stopped.
• ……再说吧 — Let's deal with it later. 睡一觉再说 is the Chinese twin of "let's sleep on it".

Get more from this episode at fluentide.com:

• Read the full interactive transcript — tap any word for instant pinyin + definition
• Toggle pinyin on/off above the Chinese text
• See the complete English translation side-by-side
• Save vocabulary to your personal word bank

Open this episode on Fluentide →

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spotted the largest fresh crater seen on the Moon since at least 2009: McGetchin crater, 728 ft (222 m) wide, near the edge of Mare Crisium. Before/after image comparison dates the impact to 11 April-22 May 2024; the impactor was 30-70 ft (9-21 m) across and released energy equal to ~15,500 tons of TNT. Impacts this size happen about once every 132 years. First spotted Oct 2025; two studies in Science Advances. Relevance: NASA and China plan nuclear-powered south-pole bases in the 2030s. Earth's atmosphere burns up objects under ~30 ft; the Moon has almost none. Objects the size of monster-truck tires make ~140 30-ft craters a year. Ejecta rays reach 60+ miles, so bases need not be hit directly; small impactors are hard to spot in advance, too late to deflect. Mark Boslough: significant risk to long-term lunar operations.

NASA Spots the Moon's Biggest New Crater in Years — a Warning for Future Moon Bases

HSK 1 level · 3:19

• 漂亮 (piàoliang) — beautiful
• 看见 (kànjiàn) — to see, to spot
• 工作 (gōngzuò) — job, work
• 住 (zhù) — to live (somewhere)
• 星期 (xīngqī) — week
• 知道 (zhīdào) — to know
• 月亮 (yuèliang) — the Moon
• 石头 (shítou) — rock, stone

• A 没有 B + adjective — A is not as [adjective] as B. The simplest comparison in Chinese.
• V + 得 + 很 + adjective — Describes how an action is done: flies fast, flies far.
• ……，也可能…… — Offers a second possibility: a few weeks, or maybe a few months.

Get more from this episode at fluentide.com:

• Read the full interactive transcript — tap any word for instant pinyin + definition
• Toggle pinyin on/off above the Chinese text
• See the complete English translation side-by-side
• Save vocabulary to your personal word bank

Open this episode on Fluentide →

Direct-to-consumer brands have broken caviar's price convention. Caviar Russe in Manhattan sells 125g of classic Osetra for $495 and its top grade for nearly $3,000; Quince sells 100g for $125, Loft discounted 125g from $346 to $138, and Miami's Cavi calls itself The People's Caviar. The underlying cause is supply: sturgeon predate the dinosaurs and take many years to produce roe, so caviar was physically scarce. Caviar was not always a luxury — 19th-century American bars gave it away as a snack. After the Soviet collapse depressed Caspian prices, overfishing collapsed wild stocks and wild-caught sturgeon was banned, so almost all US caviar is now farmed. Over the past decade Chinese sturgeon farms reached maturity; giant Chinese producers now supply both the new DTC brands and Michelin-starred restaurants. Author Gabriella Gershenson: there is so much Chinese caviar available now, much of it very cheap and very good. Caviar Russe warns cheap caviar should alert consumers; luxury strategist Daniel Langer counters that brands charged high prices simply because it was the convention, and the newcomers called the bluff.

Caviar Got Cheap Enough to Feed a Toddler — and a Big Reason Is Chinese Fish Farms

HSK 1 level · 2:55

• 东西 (dōngxi) — thing
• 钱 (qián) — money
• 饭馆 (fànguǎn) — restaurant
• 知道 (zhīdào) — to know
• 年 (nián) — year
• 高兴 (gāoxìng) — happy
• 鱼子酱 (yúzǐjiàng) — caviar
• 鱼 (yú) — fish

• A 少，B 就多 — When A is scarce, B goes up. Two short clauses joined by 就 state cause and effect without any economics vocabulary.
• 要……才…… — It takes X before Y happens. 才 marks that the result comes late — here, years before a sturgeon has roe.
• V 过 + object 吗？ — Have you ever done X? 过 marks experience, which is exactly the question to ask about a food most people have never tried.

Get more from this episode at fluentide.com:

• Read the full interactive transcript — tap any word for instant pinyin + definition
• Toggle pinyin on/off above the Chinese text
• See the complete English translation side-by-side
• Save vocabulary to your personal word bank

Open this episode on Fluentide →

On 17 August 2026 Geely Auto (00175.HK) announced that founder Li Shufu, 63, was stepping down as chairman and executive director. Vice-chairman Gui Shengyue called it not a routine personnel change but a declaration of de-familyisation. Li founded the group in 1986 making fridge parts, then fridges and motorcycles — so profitable that dealers queued at the factory gate and the bank opened a branch office to take the cash — before turning to cars in 1997. Denied a manufacturing licence, he told officials: please give me one chance to fail. He got it in 2001. In 2010 Geely bought Volvo Cars from Ford for $1.8bn, a deal dubbed a snake swallowing an elephant, and by 2017 led China's domestic brands on sales. His successor is An Conghui, a professional manager raised inside Geely, not a family member — unlike Fuyao's Cao Dewang, who handed to his eldest son, or Wanxiang's Lu Guanqiu, succeeded by his. Li barred his own brothers from management once carmaking began, and said in 2006: this company cannot be run by me alone. He remains chairman of the controlling shareholder, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group.

The Man Who Bought Volvo Just Handed His Carmaker to Someone Who Is Not Family

HSK 1 level · 2:21

• 车 (chē) — car
• 买 (mǎi) — to buy
• 钱 (qián) — money
• 给 (gěi) — to give
• 儿子 (érzi) — son
• 想 (xiǎng) — to think; to want
• 公司 (gōngsī) — company
• 老板 (lǎobǎn) — boss, owner

• 越 V 越 + adjective — The more it is done, the more X it becomes. 越做越好 compresses years of improvement into three characters.
• V 不了 — The potential complement 不了 means the action cannot be completed, no matter the effort. Different from 不 alone, which is simply a refusal.
• 可是……没有这样做 — Sets out what everyone expected, then negates it. The most economical way in Chinese to mark a decision as a departure from the norm.

Get more from this episode at fluentide.com:

• Read the full interactive transcript — tap any word for instant pinyin + definition
• Toggle pinyin on/off above the Chinese text
• See the complete English translation side-by-side
• Save vocabulary to your personal word bank

Open this episode on Fluentide →