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‘Mandarin Reading: Water, Vapour and Ice’
Click to listen to HTLAL-chi2.mp3 (499Kb)
Non-native speaker
Accent: English (Canadian)
Author: Malcolm
Date: 4/25/2006

Description of what is on the sound file:
This is an excerpt from an intermediate-level Chinese reader that I'm using (A Series of Short Chinese Readings Vol.1, Lesson 14). I tried to speak both quickly and clearly, but there may still be parts that sound a little sloppy. I recorded each paragraph separately and then edited them together. Enjoy!

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Transcript of sound file:
水、蒸汽和冰

冬天，我们都玩过雪和冰。把一块冰拿进一间暖和的屋子里，它很快就变成了水。我们洗了衣服，挂在靠近火炉的地方，湿衣服就冒起了蒸汽。冬天在室外，一盆水很快就结上了一层冰。我们都知道，这是由于温度的关系。

多数物质都同水一样。假如我们把温度升高到足够的度数，固体会变成液体，而液体会变成气体。反过来，如果把温度降低到足够的度数，那么气体就会变成液体，而液体就会变成固体。这种变化只是一种物理变化，只改变物质的状态，并不改变物质本身。这和木头燃烧不同，那是一种化学变化。

利用物质这三种状态的变化，人们发明了蒸汽发动机，用冰箱保存新鲜的食物，把钢铁熔化了再铸造成各种各样有用的东西。

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Translation:
[from the book]

In winter, we all have the experience of playing with snow and ice. Take a piece of ice into a heated room and the ice soon melts. When we wash clothes and hang them near a stove, the wet clothes will give off vapour. A basin of water left outdoors in the winter will soon form a layer of ice on the surface. All these we know are caused by temperature.

It is the same with most substances. If we raise the temperature hot enough, a solid will become a liquid, and the liquid will turn into vapour. Vice versa, if we lower the temperature enough, vapour will turn into liquid, and liquid into solid. This is a physical change in which only the form not the nature of the matter is changed. It is different from the burning of wood because that is a chemical change.

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