Chinese reading texts by level
15 texts from 1 to 5, 1 654 words in all, with 45 comprehension questions. Each text shows how much of it is explained in this site’s vocabulary — calculated, not claimed.
Learning words one at a time and practising grammar one point at a time is work on separate parts. A text is the first thing that needs both at once — and the only exercise where nobody tells you which rule is being tested.
What makes a graded text is a number: how much of it you already know at your level. If it is too low, reading turns into looking things up. Here that number is calculated for every text against this site’s vocabulary and shown with the text — together with the level that follows from it, next to the level on the label.
Every text is written for this site. Click a word to look it up without leaving the page.
1 (3)
1 · 58 words · 1 min
A Day in Wang Ming’s Life
A student’s ordinary day, from breakfast to bedtime.
1 · 58 words · 1 min
Buying Fruit
A short conversation at a fruit shop, with prices and change.
1 · 60 words · 1 min
My Family
A girl introduces her family, one person at a time.
2 (3)
2 · 72 words · 1 min
It Started to Rain
No umbrella, a heavy shower and a classmate who has two.
2 · 79 words · 1 min
On the Underground
A wrong line, a helpful stranger and a late arrival.
2 · 81 words · 1 min
Mum’s Birthday
Two children plan a surprise for their mother.
3 (3)
3 · 116 words · 1 min
Moving House
A new flat near work, and the neighbours who make it home.
3 · 122 words · 1 min
At the Doctor’s
A cold, a day off work and some advice the narrator ignores.
3 · 112 words · 1 min
Learning to Cook
Living alone for the first time, and a dish that goes wrong twice.
4 (3)
4 · 139 words · 1 min
The Lost Wallet
A wallet left in a taxi, and a driver who brings it back.
4 · 125 words · 1 min
A Weekend in the Mountains
A hike planned as an easy day out, and the weather that changes it.
4 · 123 words · 1 min
The Interview
Preparing for a job interview, and the one question that was not on the list.
5 (3)
5 · 177 words · 1 min
Working from Home
What one office worker gained by working from home, and what she lost.
5 · 171 words · 1 min
The Old Street
An old shopping street, its empty shops and an attempt to revive it.
5 · 161 words · 1 min
What a Library Is For
A town library in an age of screens, seen from its reading room.
What is measured here — and what is not
Coverage tells you about this site’s vocabulary, not about the text. If a text stands at 96 %, four words in a hundred are not explained anywhere here; they are then in the glossary next to the text.
The measured level can be below the stated one, and that is intentional. A set of minutes made up of perfectly ordinary words can be a very hard text — what makes it hard is the sentences they sit in. That is why the average sentence length is shown alongside.
Whether a text is good is measured by nobody here. That is for the reader to decide.