Tea and hospitality: ask first

How can you receive a guest and leave room for their preferences?

This lesson introduces sharing within Chinese tea practices. The fictional visit does not prescribe one drink or one serving rule for everyone.

These are editorial reading bands, not exam levels.

A friend visits

Fictional story · local synthesized audio, listening review pending

Lin welcomes a guest to her home.

English pronunciation · Device-generated pronunciation (depends on browser and system voices)

Your current device will speak after you click; voices can differ by device.

Translation and pinyin

林欢迎一位客人来到她家。

She offers tea or water.

English pronunciation · Device-generated pronunciation (depends on browser and system voices)

Your current device will speak after you click; voices can differ by device.

Translation and pinyin

她让客人选择茶或水。

The guest asks for water.

English pronunciation · Device-generated pronunciation (depends on browser and system voices)

Your current device will speak after you click; voices can differ by device.

Translation and pinyin

客人要了水。

Lin puts a cup of water on the table.

English pronunciation · Device-generated pronunciation (depends on browser and system voices)

Your current device will speak after you click; voices can differ by device.

Translation and pinyin

林把一杯水放在桌上。

Supporting vocabulary

water — the clear liquid people drink to stay hydrated

table — a piece of furniture for putting things on

What does the guest choose?

Where does Lin put the cup?

These are authored dialogue tasks, not live AI. Respond one turn at a time.

The budget applies to a new session; an existing session keeps its current budget.

Main scenario

A friend visits your home for the first time. You have tea and water; you are the host.

Ask about a drink preference, respond to a refusal, and explain your own hosting choice.

A different setting

Open a task to discover the new conditions and adapt your response.

UNESCO describes drinking and sharing as parts of China’s tea-related practices.

Is there a similar or different practice in your life? You may invent an example or skip this question.