Demonstrate understanding of written Chinese related to everyday contexts
This domain tests reading short everyday texts: notices, signs, emails, menus, timetables, advertisements and short articles. You answer questions on gist and detail, in English or by selecting information. You are not expected to translate every word.
Core rules and concepts
- Skim first: what type of text is it, who wrote it, who is it for?
- Scan for question words: 谁, 什么, 哪里, 什么时候, 为什么, 怎么, 几.
- Use grammar cues: 了/过 for completion or past experience; 在/正在 for ongoing action; 会/能/可以 for ability or permission; 想/要 for want; 不 versus 没 (没 with 有 and in past negation).
- Guess unknown characters from radicals and components: 氵 water, 讠 speech, 心 feeling, 亻 person.
- Read numbers and dates precisely: 二月三日, 三点半, 十块五毛.
Worked example
Text: 学校通知：明天下午两点在学校图书馆开会。请大家带一本书。 Question: What should students bring, and where is the meeting? Reasoning: 通知 signals a notice. 明天下午两点 is the time; 在学校图书馆 is the place; 带一本书 is the object to bring. Answer: a book; the school library. Do not render 开会 as open a meeting; it means hold or have a meeting.
Traps that cost marks
- Confusing lookalike characters: 买/卖, 人/入, 大/太, 未/末, 干/千.
- Reading pinyin habits instead of recognising characters when pinyin is absent.
- Missing 不 or 没, which reverses the meaning.
- Treating 了 as simple past tense everywhere; it marks completion, not time.
- Choosing a word that appears in the text but does not answer the question.