Dialogue Completion: Train or Bus to the Museum
At a train station, a visitor from Canada asks a student: 'Excuse me, I want to go to the city museum. Should I take the bus or the train?' The student knows three facts. (1) The museum is a five-minute walk from City Hall Station, two stops on the train. (2) The train leaves in five minutes. (3) The bus stops in front of the museum, but the next bus is in 25 minutes and the ride takes 20 minutes. The visitor has a large suitcase and says, 'I don't mind walking.' The student wants to answer helpfully without sounding like a tour guide giving orders. The visitor must arrive by 10:30, and it is now 10:05. A teacher is listening nearby.
1. Write the student's two-sentence reply. It must give a recommendation, one concrete reason, and one useful alternative.
Read the worked answer
'I recommend the train: it leaves in five minutes, and City Hall Station is only a five-minute walk from the museum, so you will arrive around 10:15. If you prefer the bus, it stops at the museum, but the next one comes at 10:30 and the ride takes 20 minutes, so it would arrive after your 10:30 deadline.' The reply recommends without commanding, gives the train's time advantage, and still mentions the bus so the visitor can decide.
2. Which fact makes the bus option impossible for this visitor, and why might a student miss it?
Read the worked answer
The fatal fact is the bus timing: now 10:05 + 25-minute wait = 10:30 departure, + 20-minute ride = 10:50 arrival, 20 minutes after the deadline. A student may miss this by treating 'the bus stops in front of the museum' as the most important detail, or by hearing 'I don't mind walking' and recommending the bus for convenience. The train leaves in five minutes, so the reply must also be quick. The bus is not wrong in general; it is wrong under the 10:30 constraint.