新闻中文Free sample lesson
The Tianzhou Cargo Spacecraft
These three sentences come from a news text about the Tianzhou (天舟) cargo spacecraft that resupplies China's space station: the "courier service" metaphor, the gap between what the public sees and what engineers watch, and how cargo is packed for microgravity.
For each sentence you get the original with tone-marked pinyin, a chunk-by-chunk literal reading, a natural translation, the sentence structure, a grammar note and key vocabulary. Finish with the word-order quiz on the first sentence.
Source: News Chinese app, chapter 2 "What Tianzhou Cargo Missions Mean for Space Supply" · free chapter
Key grammar in this lesson
- 被形容为…
- A passive judgment: "is described as / is likened to …". News writing uses it alongside 被称为… ("is called …") and 被视为… ("is regarded as …").
- 既要A，也要B
- "Must both A and B": two requirements side by side. In this sentence B contains a 被 + verb passive, "be able to be quickly secured".
Sentence 1
天舟货运飞船的发射，常被形容为空间站的快递服务。
Tiān zhōu huò yùn fēi chuán de fā shè， cháng bèi xíng róng wéi kōng jiān zhàn de kuài dì fú wù。
Natural translation: The launch of the Tianzhou cargo spacecraft is often described as the space station's courier service.
Literal reading (chunk by chunk)
- 天舟tiān zhōuTianzhou
- 货运飞船的huò yùn fēi chuán decargo spacecraft's
- 发射，fā shèlaunch
- 常chángoften
- 被bèi(passive marker)
- 形容xíng róngdescribed
- 为wéias
- 空间站的kōng jiān zhàn dethe space station's
- 快递服务kuài dì fú wùcourier service
Sentence structure
- Subject天舟货运飞船的发射
- Frequency adverb常
- Passive predicate被形容为
- Assessment object空间站的快递服务
Grammar note
被形容为… expresses a passive judgment: the subject 'is described as, or likened to, …'.
Key vocabulary
| Word | Pinyin | HSK | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 天舟 | tiān zhōu | – | Tianzhou — China's unmanned cargo spacecraft series; makes regular resupply runs to the space station |
| 货运飞船 | huò yùn fēi chuán | – | cargo spacecraft — an unmanned craft that docks with the station carrying supplies only |
| 发射 | fā shè | Level 5 | launch (of a rocket or spacecraft) |
| 被形容为 | bèi xíng róng wéi | – | to be described as / likened to (被 = passive marker) |
| 快递服务 | kuài dì fú wù | – | courier/delivery service — the apt metaphor: like a ground parcel service, Tianzhou delivers on schedule |
Sentence 2
公众看到的是火箭升空，工程师关心的却是实时数据是否正常。
Gōng zhòng kàn dào de shì huǒ jiàn shēng kōng， gōng chéng shī guān xīn de què shì shí shí shù jù shì fǒu zhèng cháng。
Natural translation: What the public sees is the rocket lifting off; what engineers focus on is whether the real-time data are normal.
Literal reading (chunk by chunk)
- 公众gōng zhòngthe public
- 看到的kàn dào dewhat (they) see
- 是shìis
- 火箭huǒ jiànthe rocket
- 升空，shēng kōnglifting off
- 工程师gōng chéng shīengineers
- 关心的guān xīn dewhat (they) care about
- 却是què shìis, however,
- 实时shí shíreal-time
- 数据shù jùdata
- 是否shì fǒuwhether (or not)
- 正常zhèng chángare normal
Sentence structure
- Nominalized subject公众看到的
- Judgment verb是
- Judgment content object clause火箭升空
- Nominalized subject工程师关心的
- Contrastive adverb却
- Judgment verb是
- Judgment content object clause实时数据是否正常
Grammar note
subject-predicate phrase + 的 + 是… puts the object of the action in focus, meaning 'what X does is …', and 却 highlights the contrast between the two focuses.
Key vocabulary
| Word | Pinyin | HSK | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 公众看到的是… | gōng zhòng kàn dào de shì … | – | what the public sees is… (pseudo-cleft …的是…: the 的-phrase is the subject and the focus comes after 是) |
| 升空 | shēng kōng | – | to lift off, to ascend into the sky |
| 工程师 | gōng chéng shī | Level 3 | engineer — here the mission control team monitoring telemetry |
| 却是 | què shì | Level 6 | but rather, in contrast (contrastive 却) |
| 是否 | shì fǒu | Level 4 | whether or not — engineers must confirm every parameter is nominal |
Sentence 3
为了节省空间，货物包装既要轻便，也要能在微重力环境中被快速固定。
Wèi le jié shěng kōng jiān， huò wù bāo zhuāng jì yào qīng biàn， yě yào néng zài wēi zhòng lì huán jìng zhōng bèi kuài sù gù dìng。
Natural translation: To save space, cargo packaging must be both lightweight and able to be quickly secured in a microgravity environment.
Literal reading (chunk by chunk)
- 为了wèi lein order to
- 节省jié shěngsave
- 空间，kōng jiānspace
- 货物huò wùcargo
- 包装bāo zhuāngpackaging
- 既要jì yàomust both
- 轻便，qīng biànbe lightweight
- 也要yě yàoand must also
- 能néngbe able to
- 在zàiin
- 微重力环境wēi zhòng lì huán jìnga microgravity environment
- 中zhōng(within)
- 被bèi(passive marker)
- 快速kuài sùquickly
- 固定gù dìngsecured
Sentence structure
- Purpose adverbial为了节省空间
- Subject货物包装
- Requirement predicate 1既要轻便
- Requirement predicate 2也要能在微重力环境中被快速固定
Grammar note
既要…也要… places two required conditions in parallel, and in the second condition 被 + verb expresses the passive: the packaging gets secured.
Key vocabulary
| Word | Pinyin | HSK | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 为了 | wèi le | Level 3 | in order to (purpose marker) |
| 既…也… | jì … yě … | – | both … and … (parallel requirements — packaging must satisfy two criteria simultaneously) |
| 轻便 | qīng biàn | – | lightweight and convenient — every gram matters on a spacecraft |
| 微重力环境 | wēi zhòng lì huán jìng | – | microgravity environment — inside the station objects float freely; loose cargo is dangerous |
| 被快速固定 | bèi kuài sù gù dìng | – | to be quickly secured (被 = passive) — fastening must be rapid to prevent drifting |
Word-order quiz
Tap the word tiles in the right order to rebuild the sentence that matches the translation below.
The launch of the Tianzhou cargo spacecraft is often described as the space station's courier service.
Your answer
Word tiles
Show answer
天舟货运飞船的发射，常被形容为空间站的快递服务。
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