対話文：誕生日の誘いを断り、代案を出す
Emma, an Australian student staying with Mai's family in Fukuoka for three weeks, sends this message on Friday: "Hey Mai! It's my birthday on Saturday! A few of us are meeting at Tenjin at 6 p.m., then ramen, then karaoke until 9:30. Come! Don't be late!!"
Mai is 15. Her family rule is that she must be home by 8 p.m. unless a parent collects her, and both parents are working on Saturday evening. She has ¥1,500 of her own money; ramen plus karaoke would cost about ¥2,000. She has cram school at 9:00 on Sunday morning. She does want to celebrate with Emma, and she will see her at school on Monday. She has to answer in English tonight.
1. List Mai's constraints and decide which one, on its own, already makes the 6:00–9:30 plan impossible. Explain why the other constraints do not do the same job.
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Constraints: (1) home by 8:00 unless a parent collects her, and no parent is free on Saturday evening; (2) ¥1,500 available against roughly ¥2,000 for ramen plus karaoke; (3) cram school at 9:00 on Sunday morning.
The curfew alone settles it. The plan ends at 9:30 in Tenjin, and travel home plus the 8:00 rule means even a cut-down version (skip karaoke, leave after ramen) is too tight to promise in advance.
The other two are weaker as reasons to give: the money gap of about ¥500 is real but sounds like a comment on Emma's plan ("your birthday is too expensive"), and the Sunday class is only affected if she stays out late, so it is a consequence of the curfew rather than an independent blocker. The family rule is external, non-negotiable, and says nothing about Emma - which makes it the right reason to put in the message.
2. Write Mai's reply (3–4 sentences). It must decline the evening plan, give one reason, and offer an alternative she can actually keep. Then explain the order in which you placed the parts.
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Sample reply:
"Happy birthday, Emma! I really want to come, but I have to be home by 8, so I can't stay until 9:30. Could we meet at 4 on Saturday instead? I can treat you to melonpan near the station. I'm sorry I can't do the evening."
Order and why:
- Congratulate first. The message is about Emma's birthday; starting with "No" turns a celebration into a refusal.
- Decline clearly, early. "I really want to come, but..." keeps warmth and still leaves no doubt; a vague answer would make Emma ask again.
- Give the external reason ("home by 8"), not the money.
- Offer a specific alternative with a time she can keep - 4 p.m. is before dinner, leaves time to get home by 8, and costs almost nothing.
- Short apology at the end, not at the start, so the message does not open on a negative.
The alternative must be checked against the constraints before it is sent; offering "let's meet at 7" would repeat the same problem.
3. Emma wrote "Don't be late!!" Mai is tempted to reply "I will not be late." Explain what would go wrong.
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"I will not be late" answers a question Mai was never asked, and it implicitly accepts the invitation. Emma would reasonably reply "Great, see you at 6!", and Mai would then have to cancel a second time - worse than declining once, because now a place has been booked and other friends have been told.
"Don't be late!!" is a friendly nudge inside an invitation, not a separate request about punctuality. In this kind of situational task, the tested skill is guessing what the other person will infer from your reply, not what the words literally ask. The reply must deal with the invitation itself: say clearly that she cannot come to the 6:00–9:30 plan, then move to the alternative. Only after the refusal is on the record does a comment about time make sense.