HSK 3 reading practice

Every passage here is written inside HSK 3 — the grammar and the vocabulary stay in the level, so you read rather than decode. Shortest first.

The App That Knows My Taste手机怎么知道我喜欢什么Two friends notice their phones recommend exactly what they like, and disagree about whether an algorithm doing that is convenient or unsettling. One…HSK 3 · 255 characters · 3 min · techFive Carts of Books学富五车A student says her history teacher has read so much that people call him "five carts of books" learned, and her friend asks why being learned gets mea…HSK 3 · 326 characters · 4 min · historyWhere You Study Best在哪儿学习最好A student always studies at a busy coffee shop and says the background noise actually helps her focus; her roommate needs total silence in the library…HSK 3 · 327 characters · 4 min · dailyWorking from Home在家上班Two colleagues who used to sit near each other compare working from home with going to the office. One switched to working from home last month and li…HSK 3 · 339 characters · 4 min · current-eventsThe Message I Sent by Mistake发错了消息A woman sends a message complaining about her boss, but her phone sends it straight to the boss instead of to her friend. She calls her friend in a pa…HSK 3 · 340 characters · 4 min · techLearning to Cook My Mother's Dish学妈妈做的菜A daughter calls her mother to learn how to make the dish her mother always cooks. She wants an exact amount for the salt, but her mother can only eve…HSK 3 · 350 characters · 4 min · dailyWhy Do You Ask My Age为什么问我的年龄A foreign student is asked her age, her salary and whether she is married within minutes of meeting a new coworker, and feels the questions are much t…HSK 3 · 351 characters · 4 min · cultureReading a Novel in Chinese第一次读中文小说A learner tells a friend about finishing her first Chinese novel. At the start she looked up almost every word and it was slow and no fun at all. Part…HSK 3 · 388 characters · 4 min · literatureThe Fight for the Bill抢着付钱Dinner ends and two Chinese friends, Zhang Wei and Wang Fang, fight over who gets to pay, the way they do every time. Their American friend David trie…HSK 3 · 393 characters · 4 min · cultureThe Canal Still at Work还在用的运河A boat guide tells a tourist that the calm water beneath them is not a river but a canal, dug by hand over many years long ago to carry rice from the…HSK 3 · 413 characters · 5 min · historyThe Bike Share Problem共享单车放在哪里Shared bikes are everywhere in Chinese cities: cheap, convenient, and very often lying across the pavement. A resident finds her building's pavement b…HSK 3 · 418 characters · 5 min · current-eventsChopsticks Have Rules筷子的规矩At a family dinner a foreign guest sticks his chopsticks upright in his rice and the table goes quiet. His friend quietly lays them flat and only expl…HSK 3 · 431 characters · 5 min · cultureThe Lunch Nap午睡的习惯A new employee is startled when the office goes dark and silent right after lunch. A colleague explains that everyone naps, a habit that goes back to…HSK 3 · 438 characters · 5 min · dailyBreakfast on the Street街上的早饭Xiao Mei has bought her breakfast jianbing from the same street cart for about two hundred mornings, so the vendor starts her order before she says a…HSK 3 · 449 characters · 5 min · foodEveryone Goes Home过年，大家都回家A Chinese colleague spends her lunch break refreshing a ticket app, anxious about getting home for Spring Festival. She explains to her foreign cowork…HSK 3 · 457 characters · 5 min · cultureThe Translation App Got It Wrong翻译软件翻错了Tom used a translation app to order from a menu by himself and got scared when the app translated a dish name literally into something with ants in it…HSK 3 · 466 characters · 5 min · tech

What is in HSK 3 reading practice

16 passages, each between 255 and 466 characters (3 to 5 minutes). Themes: culture, tech, daily, history, current-events and literature. The shortest is The App That Knows My Taste; the longest is The Translation App Got It Wrong.

How to read HSK 3 passages

Start with the shortest and work up. Each passage ends in comprehension questions (64 across this level), so you find out whether you followed it before you move on. They flag 72 new words between them. Unknown words are worth looking up in the dictionary.

Around HSK 3

HSK 2 readings · HSK 4 readings · printable HSK 3 word list · HSK 3 grammar · how to pass HSK 3 · free HSK 3 practice test

Questions about HSK 3 readings

How many HSK 3 readings are there?

16 passages, from 255 to 466 characters.

How long does a passage at HSK 3 take?

About 3 to 5 minutes.

What is in each HSK 3 reading?

Pinyin, a full English translation, narration, a new-word list and comprehension questions. This page shows titles and summaries; the full text opens in the study room.

Where should I start at HSK 3?

With The App That Knows My Taste, the shortest. Then work up by length.