LINGUAWIRE
A young Thai singer wins a famous US talent show. Chinese hybrid car sales grow fast in the EU.
A current English news story adapted for language learners at A1, with audio, transcript, vocabulary and comprehension work.
Welcome to LinguaWire.
Today, a Thai teenager wins a famous talent show. Chinese hybrid car sales grow quickly in Europe.
To help you follow today's episode, full transcripts and vocabulary look-ups are available at linguawire.com.
A Thai teenage rocker wins America's Got Talent.
Mia is LinguaWire's culture correspondent.
Thank you, Daniel. Nene Royal is 16 years old.
Her real name is Rattikarn Amloy.
She is from Thailand.
She is a heavy metal singer.
She won America's Got Talent on Tuesday.
This is a famous talent show.
She is the first Thai winner.
What did she sing in the final?
She sang Seven Nation Army.
The White Stripes wrote this song.
They are two people performing together.
Nene beat nine other finalists.
The finalists included magicians.
They also included dog performers.
A robot dance group also competed.
Her final performance was very strong.
Yes, Daniel. People liked Nene from early on.
A video from her audition spread online.
She sang Zombie by The Cranberries.
The judges looked very surprised.
The video has 20 million views.
What happened before the winner announcement?
Nene performed with Linkin Park.
They sang The Emptiness Machine.
It is a 2024 rock song.
Later, Nene cried on stage.
She knelt on the ground.
Then the show named her the winner.
She won the show's 21st season.
The prize is one million dollars.
People in Thailand followed the results closely.
Yes. Many people watched online.
They could not watch live on NBC.
They used a YouTube live stream.
The stream suddenly stopped during the results.
People felt worried for a short time.
Then they heard Nene had won.
People celebrated by sending happy messages.
One message said, “History made!”
The Thai prime minister congratulated Nene.
He said she brought honour to Thailand.
The Thai government called her an inspiration.
It said she showed Thai pride.
Nene carried her Thai identity proudly.
Thank you, Mia.
Chinese hybrid car sales are growing quickly in the EU.
Noah is LinguaWire's business correspondent.
Thank you, Daniel. The EU is buying more Chinese hybrid cars.
The EU is a group of European countries.
Hybrid cars use fuel and electric power.
In 2022, the EU sold 659 Chinese hybrids.
That number was very small.
This year, sales reached 160,662 cars.
That number covers the first seven months.
Why are sales growing so quickly?
The EU added extra charges in 2024.
These charges were for Chinese electric cars.
Hybrid cars did not face these charges.
Some buyers then chose hybrid cars.
Another kind is a plug-in hybrid.
It can charge from a power source.
It can also use its fuel engine.
Sales of these cars also grew.
They rose from 56,706 cars in 2022.
They reached 217,764 this year.
These numbers cover January to July.
The growth worries European car makers.
Yes. Brussels is worried about the change.
Brussels is the EU's main office city.
The EU asked China to reduce exports.
If not, the EU may limit imports.
These limits may set a maximum number.
German car makers also spoke on Thursday.
They may consider extra charges on hybrids.
Their group asked for a full study.
The study would look at the effects.
Which companies are making strong progress?
BYD, Chery, and Leapmotor are growing fast.
Their sales have grown by more than 100 percent.
Geely remains the most popular Chinese brand.
It sold 205,000 cars in eight months.
Geely's sales grew by eight percent.
Its brands include Volvo and Polestar.
BYD is now getting closer to Geely.
BYD sales grew by 163 percent.
It sold 177,000 cars.
What does this mean for the car market?
Hybrid cars make up almost 37 percent.
Electric cars make up just over 21 percent.
European companies face stronger competition.
EU officials are watching the numbers.
They may choose new limits later.
Thank you, Noah.
Here are three useful words from the culture story.
rocker means a person who plays rock music.
It is a related word.
My brother is a young rocker.
finalist means a person in the last part of a contest.
In the story, “Nene beat nine other finalists.”
She is a finalist in the singing contest.
prize means something given to a winner.
In the story, “The prize is one million dollars.”
The winner gets a prize.
She is from Thailand.
The present tense of be describes people or things now.
Forms: I am; you are; he is; she is; it is; we are; they are.
The EU is a group of European countries.
“She is from Thailand.”
They are happy today.
Repeat after me: She is from Thailand.
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