Conversational Mandarin Chinese Quiz: Finding Practical Information
7 questions · exam conditions
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Finding Practical InformationQuestion 1 of 7

药品服用说明书： 药品名称：感冒清热颗粒 用法用量：

  • 成人（18岁以上）：每次1袋，每日3次，饭后服用。
  • 儿童（6–17岁）：每次半袋，每日2次，饭后服用。
  • 6岁以下儿童请遵医嘱。

注意事项：

  • 服药期间禁止饮酒。
  • 高血压患者慎用。
  • 疗程不超过7天；症状无改善请就医。

A 16-year-old student has been taking this medicine correctly for 6 days but still has symptoms. According to the instructions, what should she do?

Continue taking the medicine for one more day at the children's dosage to complete the full 7-day course, then stop regardless of whether symptoms have improved.
Increase her dosage to the adult amount since she has not responded to the children's dose, and continue for the remaining day of the maximum course.
Stop taking the medicine and see a doctor, because the instructions state that if symptoms do not improve, she should seek medical attention — a condition already met after 6 days without improvement.
Stop taking the medicine and rest, since the instructions prohibit continued use beyond 6 days for patients under 17 years of age.
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Conversational Mandarin Chinese Quiz

Conversational Mandarin Chinese Quiz: Finding Practical Information

Practice Finding Practical Information in Conversational Mandarin Chinese with focused quiz questions that help you check what you know, review explanations, and build confidence with test-style prompts.

What this quiz covers

This quiz focuses on Finding Practical Information, giving you a quick way to practice the rules, question types, and explanations that matter most for Conversational Mandarin Chinese.

How to use this quiz

Try each quiz question before looking at the correct answer. Use the explanations to review missed ideas, then come back to similar questions until the pattern feels familiar.

All questions

Question 1

药品服用说明书： 药品名称：感冒清热颗粒 用法用量：

  • 成人（18岁以上）：每次1袋，每日3次，饭后服用。
  • 儿童（6–17岁）：每次半袋，每日2次，饭后服用。
  • 6岁以下儿童请遵医嘱。

注意事项：

  • 服药期间禁止饮酒。
  • 高血压患者慎用。
  • 疗程不超过7天；症状无改善请就医。

A 16-year-old student has been taking this medicine correctly for 6 days but still has symptoms. According to the instructions, what should she do?

  1. Continue taking the medicine for one more day at the children's dosage to complete the full 7-day course, then stop regardless of whether symptoms have improved.
  2. Increase her dosage to the adult amount since she has not responded to the children's dose, and continue for the remaining day of the maximum course.
  3. Stop taking the medicine and see a doctor, because the instructions state that if symptoms do not improve, she should seek medical attention — a condition already met after 6 days without improvement. (correct answer)
  4. Stop taking the medicine and rest, since the instructions prohibit continued use beyond 6 days for patients under 17 years of age.
Explanation: When reading medicine instructions in Chinese, your job is to match the patient's specific situation against every condition listed — not just the dosage rules, but also the warnings and special instructions. Here, the patient is 16 years old, so she falls in the 6–17 age range and correctly takes half a bag twice daily. The critical line is: "症状无改善请就医" — "if symptoms do not improve, please see a doctor." This instruction has no minimum time requirement attached to it; it simply triggers whenever improvement hasn't occurred. After 6 days without improvement, that condition is already satisfied. Therefore, C is correct: she should stop and see a doctor immediately, rather than waiting out the remaining day. A is tempting because 6 days feels close to 7, and it seems reasonable to "finish the course." But the instructions say the course must not exceed 7 days — that's a ceiling, not a target. More importantly, the "see a doctor if no improvement" rule overrides the desire to complete the course. B is dangerous and unsupported: nothing in the instructions allows a patient to self-upgrade to an adult dose. Doing so without medical guidance could be harmful. D invents a rule that doesn't exist — the instructions never set a 6-day limit specifically for patients under 17. This is a classic distractor that sounds plausible but has no basis in the text. A useful habit: when a passage contains both dosage rules and conditional instructions (like "if X, then Y"), always check whether any conditions have been triggered before deciding what to do next.

Question 2

餐厅菜单说明： 本餐厅提供以下套餐： 套餐A：一荤一素一汤，38元 套餐B：两荤一素，45元 套餐C：一荤两素一汤，42元

加收说明：

  • 米饭每碗2元（套餐均不含米饭）
  • 周末加收10%服务费
  • 团体10人以上享九五折优惠（服务费后计算）

A group of 12 people dines on Saturday. Each person orders Set Meal A and one bowl of rice. What is the total bill?

  1. 528.00 yuan, calculated as: 12 × (38 + 2) = 480 yuan, plus 10% weekend service charge = 528 yuan; the group discount is not applied because it requires more than 10 people, not exactly 12.
  2. 501.60 yuan, calculated as: 12 × (38 + 2) = 480 yuan, plus 10% weekend service charge = 528 yuan, then multiplied by 0.95 for the group discount. (correct answer)
  3. 513.60 yuan, calculated as: 12 × (38 + 2) = 480 yuan, multiplied by 0.95 group discount first = 456 yuan, then 10% service charge added = 501.60 yuan.
  4. 480.00 yuan, because group discounts and weekend surcharges cancel each other out, leaving only the base meal and rice costs.
Explanation: When a question involves multiple fees applied in a specific order, sequence matters enormously. Here, you must apply charges in the order the menu specifies: base cost first, then the weekend service fee, then the group discount. Start with the base cost: 12 people × (38 yuan meal + 2 yuan rice) = 480 yuan. Next, apply the 10% weekend service charge: 480×1.10=528 yuan480 × 1.10 = 528 \text{ yuan}. Finally, since the group has 12 people (which exceeds 10), they qualify for the 九五折 (95%) discount, applied after the service fee: 528×0.95=501.60 yuan528 × 0.95 = 501.60 \text{ yuan}. That confirms B is correct. Here's why the others fail. A misreads "10人以上" — in Chinese, 以上 (yǐshàng) means "10 or more," and a group of 12 absolutely qualifies. The discount is wrongly ignored. C reverses the order of operations, applying the group discount before the service charge rather than after, as the menu explicitly states ("服务费后计算" means "calculated after the service fee"). This produces a different — and wrong — result of 501.60... wait, actually C's final number is 501.60 but arrived at incorrectly; the math coincidentally differs because C applies 0.95 to 480 first, getting 456, then adds 10% to get 501.60 — a different sequence yielding a different number. D invents a "cancellation" logic that appears nowhere in the menu; discounts and surcharges never automatically cancel each other. Watch for the phrase "后计算" (calculated after) in Chinese menus or contracts — it signals a mandatory order of operations that determines the correct sequence of applying fees and discounts.

Question 3

北京咖啡馆营业时间告示： 周一至周五：上午9:00 – 下午6:00 周六：上午10:00 – 晚上8:00 周日：休息 节假日另行通知。 注意：每天下午2:00 – 3:00为清洁时间，顾客请勿入内。

Li Ming wants to visit the café on a Saturday. He arrives at 7:45 PM. Which of the following is most accurate about his visit?

  1. He can enter because the café is open until 8:00 PM on Saturdays, giving him 15 minutes inside. (correct answer)
  2. He cannot enter because the café is closed on weekends entirely, including Saturdays.
  3. He cannot enter because Saturday hours end at 6:00 PM, and he has already missed closing time.
  4. He can enter freely because 7:45 PM falls within the standard weekday closing hour of 6:00 PM extended by one hour.
Explanation: When reading Chinese business hour notices (营业时间告示), your job is to match the specific day and time of the visitor's arrival against the correct row in the schedule — not the general or most common hours listed. Here, the café's Saturday (周六) hours are clearly stated as 上午10:00 – 晚上8:00, meaning 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM. Li Ming arrives at 7:45 PM (晚上7:45), which falls 15 minutes before closing. The café is still open, so he can enter — but only briefly. That makes A the correct and most precise answer: he has a 15-minute window before the 8:00 PM closing. As for the wrong choices: B is flatly incorrect — the notice explicitly lists Saturday hours, so the café is not closed on weekends entirely. Only Sunday (周日) is marked 休息 (closed). C confuses Saturday's hours with the weekday (周一至周五) closing time of 6:00 PM — a classic trap when a schedule has multiple rows. Always match the correct day to its own hours. D invents a rule that doesn't exist in the notice. There is no "extended hour" policy mentioned; this distractor tests whether you'll accept a plausible-sounding but fabricated explanation. One quick strategy: in multi-row schedule questions, underline or mentally isolate only the row that matches the day in question before doing anything else. This prevents you from accidentally applying Monday–Friday rules to a Saturday scenario, which is exactly the mistake choices C and D exploit.

Question 4

超市特价广告： 苹果：原价每公斤12元，现打八折。 香蕉：买两公斤送一公斤。 橙子：每公斤8元，购买3公斤以上享受九折优惠。

注：所有优惠活动仅限本周六和周日。

Wang Fang wants to buy exactly 4 kg of oranges on Sunday. How much will she pay in total?

  1. 28.80 yuan, because she qualifies for the 10% discount applied to the full 4 kg purchase at 8 yuan per kg. (correct answer)
  2. 32.00 yuan, because the discount only applies to amounts over 3 kg, meaning the first 3 kg are full price and only the 4th kg is discounted.
  3. 24.00 yuan, because she receives the banana promotion instead, which gives her one free kilogram on every two purchased.
  4. 25.60 yuan, because the 20% apple discount is mistakenly applied to the oranges, reducing 32 yuan by 20%.
Explanation: When reading Chinese discount advertisements, pay close attention to the phrasing of conditions. The key phrase here is "购买3公斤以上享受九折优惠" — purchasing more than 3 kg qualifies you for a 九折 (90%, or 10% off) discount. Since Wang Fang buys exactly 4 kg on Sunday (within the promotional period), she meets this threshold. The calculation is straightforward: the regular price is 8 yuan per kg, so 4 kg would normally cost 32 yuan. Applying 九折 means she pays 90% of that total: 32×0.9=28.80 yuan32 \times 0.9 = 28.80 \text{ yuan} This confirms A is correct — she pays 28.80 yuan. B is a common misreading trap. The discount says "购买3公斤以上," meaning the entire purchase qualifies for the discount once you exceed 3 kg — it does NOT mean only the extra kilogram beyond 3 kg is discounted. Splitting the purchase into tiered pricing is incorrect here. C is completely off-topic. The banana promotion (买两公斤送一公斤) is a separate item and has no bearing on orange pricing whatsoever. Mixing promotions across different products is a classic distractor. D incorrectly applies the apple discount (八折, or 20% off) to oranges. Each product has its own promotion — you cannot transfer one item's discount to another. Study tip: In Chinese shopping ads, "以上" (and above) typically means the condition includes that threshold quantity, making the entire purchase eligible — not just the excess amount. Watch for this phrasing on exam passages.

Question 5

快递通知短信： 您好！您的包裹（单号：CN20240315）已于今日上午10:30到达本小区快递柜，取件码：4821。请于48小时内取件，逾期将收取每天2元的保管费，最多保管7天后退回发件方。

The package arrived at 10:30 AM on Monday. If the recipient picks it up at 11:00 AM on Friday of the same week, how much storage fee (if any) will she owe?

  1. 8 yuan, because the storage fee is calculated from Monday arrival through Friday pick-up, totaling four chargeable days at 2 yuan each.
  2. 2 yuan, because only one full chargeable day — Wednesday 10:30 AM to Thursday 10:30 AM — has passed before the Friday morning pick-up.
  3. 0 yuan, because Friday is only the fourth calendar day after Monday, and the 48-hour window is interpreted as covering four calendar days.
  4. 4 yuan, because the free 48-hour window expired at 10:30 AM on Wednesday; from then until 10:30 AM Friday is exactly two full chargeable days at 2 yuan each. (correct answer)
Explanation: When a question involves a time-based fee with a free grace period, your first job is to pinpoint exactly when that free window expires, then count only the chargeable time after that point. The notice states you have 48 hours free before storage fees begin. The package arrived Monday at 10:30 AM, so the free window closes exactly 48 hours later — Wednesday at 10:30 AM. That's your billing start time. From Wednesday 10:30 AM to Friday 10:30 AM is exactly two full 24-hour periods, giving you 2×2=42 \times 2 = 4 yuan owed. The recipient picks up at 11:00 AM Friday — just 30 minutes past that second full day — so no third day is triggered. D is correct. Choice A (8 yuan) makes the mistake of charging from the moment of arrival on Monday, ignoring the 48-hour free period entirely. The grace period exists precisely to avoid charging for those first two days. Choice B (2 yuan) only counts one chargeable day, apparently treating Thursday as the single billable period. This misreads the timeline — two complete 24-hour cycles pass between Wednesday 10:30 AM and Friday 10:30 AM, not one. Choice C (0 yuan) misinterprets "48 hours" as "four calendar days," which is simply wrong. 48 hours is two days, not four — confusing hours-to-days conversion is a classic trap in these logistics-style reading questions. Study tip: In fee-calculation problems, always anchor to the exact expiration time of any free period, then count forward in the same units (hours or days) the contract specifies. Don't use vague calendar counting.

Question 6

公寓租房须知： 月租金：3,500元 押金：两个月租金 水费：按实际用量，每吨5元 电费：每度0.8元 物业管理费：每月200元（已含在租金中）

入住规定：

  • 签约时须一次性支付首月租金及押金。
  • 宠物须额外缴纳500元宠物押金（退租时退还，如有损坏则扣除）。
  • 合同期满前退租须提前一个月通知，否则没收一个月押金。

Liu Yang signs a lease and moves in with one cat. During his first month, he uses 15 tons of water and 200 units of electricity. What is the total amount Liu Yang must pay on the day he signs the lease, and what are his total utility costs for the first month?

  1. Signing day: 10,500 yuan (3 months rent as deposit + first month rent); first month utilities: 235 yuan (15 × 5 + 200 × 0.8 = 75 + 160).
  2. Signing day: 10,500 yuan (first month rent 3,500 + two-month deposit 7,000, pet deposit paid separately later); first month utilities: 275 yuan (75 yuan water + 160 yuan electricity + 40 yuan management fee portion).
  3. Signing day: 11,000 yuan (first month rent 3,500 + two-month deposit 7,000 + pet deposit 500); first month utilities: 235 yuan (75 yuan water + 160 yuan electricity). (correct answer)
  4. Signing day: 11,000 yuan (first month rent 3,500 + two-month deposit 7,000 + pet deposit 500); first month utilities: 315 yuan (75 yuan water + 160 yuan electricity + 80 yuan electricity surcharge for pet owners).
Explanation: When reading a rental listing in Chinese, you need to carefully track every fee category mentioned — especially one-time move-in costs versus ongoing monthly costs. Train yourself to mentally separate "what do I pay today?" from "what do I pay each month?" For signing day, the notice states three required payments: first month's rent (3,500元), a two-month deposit (3,500×2=7,0003{,}500 \times 2 = 7{,}000元), and — because Liu Yang has a cat — an additional pet deposit of 500元. That gives a signing-day total of 3,500+7,000+500=11,0003{,}500 + 7{,}000 + 500 = 11{,}000元. For monthly utilities, water costs 15×5=7515 \times 5 = 75元 and electricity costs 200×0.8=160200 \times 0.8 = 160元, totaling 235元. Importantly, the property management fee (物业管理费) is explicitly stated as already included in the rent (已含在租金中), so you do not add it separately. This makes C correct. Choice A makes two errors: it treats the deposit as three months' rent instead of two, and it omits the pet deposit entirely. Choice B correctly calculates the base amounts but wrongly suggests the pet deposit is paid later — the notice says 须额外缴纳, meaning it's required at the same time — and it incorrectly adds a portion of the management fee to utilities. Choice D invents a fictional "electricity surcharge for pet owners" that appears nowhere in the passage. Your strategy: when a Chinese rental passage says a fee is 已含在租金中 ("already included in rent"), cross it off your utility checklist immediately. Test questions frequently tempt you to double-count it.

Question 7

公共游泳池开放时间及票价：

平日（周一至周五）：

  • 上午场：6:00–11:00，票价20元
  • 下午场：13:00–17:00，票价25元
  • 晚场：18:00–21:00，票价30元

周末及节假日：全天开放（6:00–21:00），票价50元。

优惠：

  • 60岁以上老人凭证半价。
  • 未满12岁儿童免费（须由成人陪同）。
  • 月票（不限场次）：平日300元，含周末400元。

A 65-year-old grandfather and his 10-year-old granddaughter want to swim together every weekday evening (晚场) for an entire month of 22 weekdays. Assuming they only swim during the evening session, which payment option costs less for the grandfather, and what is the difference in cost?

  1. The weekday monthly pass (300 yuan) is cheaper: individual tickets cost 22 × 30 yuan = 660 yuan at the full evening rate, saving the grandfather 360 yuan — the senior half-price discount applies only to morning sessions.
  2. The weekday monthly pass (300 yuan) is cheaper for the grandfather: individual tickets cost 22 × 15 yuan (half-price evening rate) = 330 yuan; the monthly pass costs 300 yuan, saving 30 yuan compared to buying individual tickets. (correct answer)
  3. Buying individual evening tickets is cheaper: the monthly pass costs 400 yuan because the grandfather must purchase the weekend-inclusive pass to cover the full month, while individual half-price tickets cost only 330 yuan total.
  4. Both options cost the same: the grandfather's half-price discount reduces 22 individual evening tickets to exactly 300 yuan, matching the monthly pass price.
Explanation: When a question combines multiple discount rules, slow down and apply each one carefully before comparing totals. Here, you need to track the grandfather's costs separately from the granddaughter's (she swims free as a child under 12 with an adult), then compare paying per session versus buying a monthly pass. For the grandfather, the key details are: he is over 60, so he qualifies for the half-price senior discount on any session — including the evening session at 30 yuan. His discounted per-visit price is 30÷2=15 yuan30 \div 2 = 15 \text{ yuan}. Over 22 weekday evenings, that totals 22×15=330 yuan22 \times 15 = 330 \text{ yuan}. The weekday monthly pass costs 300 yuan and covers unlimited sessions on weekdays. So the monthly pass saves him 330−300=30 yuan330 - 300 = 30 \text{ yuan}, making B the correct answer. A contains two errors: it wrongly applies the full 30-yuan rate (ignoring the senior discount), and it falsely claims the half-price discount only applies to morning sessions — the notice places no such restriction. C incorrectly assumes the grandfather must buy the 400-yuan weekend-inclusive pass. Since he only swims on weekdays, the 300-yuan weekday pass is sufficient and applicable. D gets the per-visit math right (15 yuan × 22 = 330 yuan) but then claims 330 equals 300 — a simple arithmetic error that makes the two options appear equivalent when they are not. As a strategy tip: always note who each discount applies to and whether any restrictions on time or session type are stated. If the text doesn't limit a discount, don't invent a limitation — that's the trap in A.