Reading comprehension (longer passages and information retrieval)
What this domain tests
Longer passages test structure: can you state what each paragraph is doing, resolve what this or such a view points to, and translate one underlined sentence accurately? Information-retrieval sets hand you several short documents and ask you to combine two or more conditions across them.
Core rules
- Map before answering. Give every paragraph a five-word margin label ("problem stated", "counter-example", "writer's conclusion"). Most content questions can then be matched to a single label.
- For 下線部和訳, do a literal pass first (who does what to whom), then rewrite in natural Japanese. Markers are usually a passive, an inserted phrase, a comparison, a negative, and a pronoun whose content must be spelled out.
- Content-match options are paraphrases. A choice that copies a long phrase from the text is usually distorted elsewhere - tense, scope, or who did it.
- In information-retrieval sets, underline every condition word (deadline, 対象外, ただし, only, unless, free of charge) and tick each document against each condition.
Worked example
"What is often called a 'natural' taste is, in fact, learned slowly, and mostly without our noticing." Literal pass: what is called a natural taste / is learned / slowly / and mostly without our noticing. Final version: 「『自然な』味と呼ばれているものは、実のところ、ゆっくりと、しかもたいていは私たちが気づかないうちに身につけたものなのだ。」 Reasoning: what is called → 「～と呼ばれているもの」; in fact is an insertion, so render it as 「実のところ」 near the front; without our noticing is a preposition plus gerund, not a participle construction → 「私たちが気づかないうちに」; learned fits 「身につけた」 better than 「学ばれた」.
Traps
- Word-by-word translation that leaves the subject vague.
- Picking a true-in-general option that the passage never states.
- Missing contrast markers (Yet, Admittedly) that flip the writer's position.
- Reading each retrieval document fully instead of scanning for the stated conditions.