Listening for Next Actions in a Laboratory Conversation
Transcript of a short conversation in a university corridor. The listener hears it only once, as in the listening section. The woman is a fourth-year student presenting in a seminar at 15:00; the man is a third-year student in the same laboratory. The department printer room is normally open, but today a faculty meeting is scheduled there from 10:00 to 16:00.
男性: 「先輩、明日の発表の資料、もう印刷しましたか。」 女性: 「それが、プリンターが紙を詰まらせちゃって。でも、発表は午後だから、昼休みに直せば間に合うかな。」 男性: 「学科のプリンター、空いてるか見てきましょうか。」 女性: 「あ、今日は会議で使ってるから、たぶん開いてないよ。それより、発表のデータ、先にメールで送ってもらえる？図の番号だけ直したいから。」 男性: 「わかりました。じゃあ、今すぐ送ります。」
1. What will the woman most likely do next, and what evidence supports that? Explain why the man's offer is declined.
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She will first have the man email the presentation data, then edit the figure numbers; she plans to repair her jammed printer during lunch so the materials are printed before her 15:00 presentation.
Evidence: she says 「昼休みに直せば間に合うかな」, treating the printer problem as solvable in time, and asks 「データ、先にメールで送ってもらえる？」 with the reason 「図の番号だけ直したいから」. The request for the data comes with 「先に」, marking it as the immediate next step.
The man's offer to check the department printer is declined not because she does not want help, but because 「今日は会議で使ってるから、たぶん開いてないよ」 - the room is unavailable. She redirects him to a more useful task. A listener who hears only 「プリンターが詰まっちゃって」 might wrongly infer that she will cancel or postpone printing.
2. Explain the functions of 「それが」 and 「それより」 in this exchange, and what they show about the woman's priorities.
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「それが」 introduces a problem that runs counter to the expected answer. The man's question presumes the materials are printed; 「それが」 signals 'actually, there is a complication' and frames the printer jam as an obstacle rather than a refusal.
「それより」 shifts the topic to something the speaker treats as more urgent: the data file and the figure numbers. It also sets aside the man's offer politely without bluntly rejecting it.
Together they show her priorities: fixing the data is the immediate task, while printing is deferred to lunch and remains feasible. The exchange tests inference about intention and next action, not vocabulary recall.