Choosing the Follow-Up at Nara Station
At Nara Station, a visiting student named Alex has 15 minutes to reach a prefectural high school for an 8:30 orientation. Alex has a paper map, a stored-value card with ¥420, and a written note in English: 'Please teach me the way to take a train to Nara High School.' The local train to the nearest station costs ¥210 and takes 7 minutes. The express costs ¥510, stops one station farther away, and then requires a 12-minute walk. The ticket machine accepts coins and ¥1,000 notes only; it does not accept the stored-value card, and Alex has no coins and only a ¥5,000 note. A station attendant is free and speaks some English. Alex shows the note. The attendant answers, 'Local train, platform 2, but you need a ticket.' Alex now has one minute to ask a follow-up that will solve the immediate problem. Three follow-ups are written in Alex's notebook: (A) 'Where can I change this ¥5,000 note into coins?' (B) 'How much is the express?' (C) 'Is the local train faster?' Alex must choose one and explain why the others do not solve the problem under the time limit.
1. Which follow-up should Alex ask? Evaluate A, B, and C against the time, money, and machine constraints.
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- A is the correct follow-up. The attendant has already said Alex needs a ticket, and the machine accepts only coins or ¥1,000 notes. Alex has no coins and only a ¥5,000 note, and the stored-value card is not accepted by the machine. So the immediate blocker is payment. Asking where to get change directly solves that blocker.
- B does not solve the problem. Knowing the express fare (¥510) does not help Alex buy a ticket, because the machine still will not take the ¥5,000 note or the card. The express is also a poor choice here: it costs more than Alex's card balance and adds a 12-minute walk.
- C does not solve the problem either. The local train is already the cheaper and more direct option: 7 minutes to the nearest station. Even if the express were faster on the train, the 12-minute walk would make it slower for this destination.
- The exam tests priority setting: with one minute left, choose the question that removes the next obstacle, not the question that is merely interesting.
2. Rewrite Alex's original note as a natural, polite request that names the destination and asks for the platform. Keep it to one or two sentences.
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- A natural version is: 'Excuse me, could you tell me how to get to Nara High School by train? Which platform should I use?'
- The original, 'Please teach me the way to take a train to Nara High School,' is a literal translation. English does not usually say 'teach me the way to take a train' for this situation. The natural pattern is 'how to get to [place]' or 'which train I should take to [place].'
- The rewrite keeps the polite opening Excuse me and the modal could you, which is appropriate with a station attendant.
- It adds Which platform should I use? because the attendant has already mentioned platform 2, but Alex needs to confirm the platform for the correct train. A good exam answer gives the destination and the specific information needed, not just a general request for help.