Mandarin as spoken in Taiwan, in traditional characters: stories read line by line with pinyin, optional zhuyin and a word-by-word translation.
The idea (after Vera F. Birkenbihl): instead of learning vocabulary lists and grammar rules, you decode the text first. Every word gets its literal meaning written underneath, in the original word order, even if it sounds strange in English. That way you see how the language is built, and when you listen your brain already knows what each sound means.
Chinese has no endings and few small grammar words. Those it has are shown in capitals, and measure words start with CL:
Characters: traditional (繁體字), not simplified, and Taiwanese wording is used: 捷運 (MRT), 計程車 (taxi), 腳踏車 (bicycle), 公車 (bus), 國語 (Mandarin, literally “national language”) instead of 地鐵, 出租車, 自行車, 公共汽車, 普通話.
Voice: the audio uses a Taiwanese Mandarin voice (no 兒化 “r” endings, softer retroflex sounds, and Taiwanese habits such as 和 hàn, 垃圾 lèsè, 星期 xīngqí). The pinyin line shows the standard syllables with their dictionary tones; it does not show tone changes (e.g. 不 before a fourth tone) or the lighter neutral tones that Taiwanese speakers often use.
Zhuyin: switch on “Zhuyin” on a story page to see ㄅㄆㄇㄈ under every word, as taught in Taiwan.
Vocabulary level: stories are written for HSK 2.0 levels 1–3 (the first three levels, 595 words in the word list used here), with a few extra words that are marked with a dotted underline.