Chinese Reading Passages: Short Texts for HSK 1–9 with Audio

At 7:30 in the morning, Cheng Meiyun took a taxi to school.

She was twenty-three years old, and today was her first day working as a teacher.

In the car, Cheng Meiyun said to herself, “Hello, students!”

“I’m Teacher Cheng.”

On Saturday afternoon, Duan Wanqing walked into a used bookstore.

The bookstore was small, and it was full of old books.

A man was sitting by the door. He was already seventy years old.

His surname was Fan, and everyone called him Old Mr. Fan.

There were very few people in the store that afternoon.

On Friday afternoon, Xu Zhiyuan sat looking at the computer in the bank office, without moving for a long time.

He had worked at this bank for three years.

Every day, he started work at nine in the morning and finished at six in the evening, sitting in front of this desk.

His colleagues all said, “What a great job at the bank!”

The pay is good, and you don’t have to run around outside.

But Zhiyuan felt tired and bored.

On Sunday afternoon, Yin Jiahe stepped off the train at Shenzhen Railway Station.

She was twenty-two and came from a small city in Hunan.

It was her first time in Shenzhen.

She took out the contract and read it again.

It was a three-year work contract from a design company.

But she first had to get through a three-month probation period. She could stay only if she did well.

That afternoon, Wang Huilin was in a meeting at her company in Guangzhou when her phone suddenly rang.

The call was from a hospital in her hometown in Gansu.

Are you Wang Shouyi’s daughter?

Your father suddenly became ill, and he’s at our hospital now.

Can you come back right away?

One afternoon in early March, Shi Minghui returned to a small town in Guangdong, pulling a large suitcase behind her.

She had worked at a bank in Shanghai for ten years.

Last month, she quit her job.

Her colleagues all thought she was being foolish.

She only said, “My dad’s soy sauce workshop needs someone.”

At eight o’clock sharp, the day-shift staff finished handing over, stuffed their stethoscopes into their bags, and left, yawning.

The emergency department suddenly felt half-empty.

Du Ruolan had just stopped in front of the nurses’ station when her phone rang.

It was Yao Weizong.

Hu Manqing came to the climate center carrying an old atlas.

The cover had faded to gray-green, and two bands of clear tape wrapped around the spine.

The province's middle school atlas was due for a new edition. The other pages were easy enough, but this one had them stuck.

The letter of appointment arrived at the department after the beginning of spring.

Ji Wangshu read it twice, signed it, and went to the provincial museum first thing the next morning.

Han Liheng was waiting for her at the entrance to the second-floor gallery, a design proposal tucked under his arm, its cover plastered with yellow sticky notes.