Two Notices, One Test: Reading the Fine Print
A Level 2 student has two Chinese texts in front of her on the same morning. Text A is a printed notice on the library door: “五一假期开放时间：5月1日至3日闭馆。闭馆期间网上服务照常。还书日期在闭馆期间的，请于5月4日前归还，不计逾期。” Text B is a message from her Chinese teacher: “同学们注意：原定5月2日的单元测验改到5月2日下午2点，地点改在12号教室，不在图书馆。请带铅笔和橡皮，不要带电子词典。” The student’s library book is due on 1 May. She has a dental appointment at 1 p.m. on 2 May and a bus at 1:40 p.m. that takes 25 minutes to school. She wants to know whether she can return the book on 2 May, where to go for the test, and what to bring. She also has to decide whether to carry her electronic dictionary to school that day.
1. Can the student return the book inside the library on 2 May? What should she do instead, and which words in Text A justify it?
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No. Text A says “5月1日至3日闭馆”, so the building is closed on 2 May. The same notice says “还书日期在闭馆期间的，请于5月4日前归还，不计逾期”: her due date, 1 May, falls inside the closure, so she should not be fined if she returns it by 4 May. She should check the online service (“网上服务照常”) if she needs to renew or confirm her account, but she cannot physically return the book on 2 May. The practical plan is to return it on 4 May, when the library reopens, or use a drop box only if one is explicitly available; the notice does not mention a drop box, so she should not assume one. The key reading move is to separate “闭馆” (building closed) from “网上服务照常” (online service unaffected).
2. Where must she go at 2 p.m. on 2 May, and what is the likely problem with her travel plan? Show the calculation.
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She must go to Room 12, not the library: Text B says “地点改在12号教室，不在图书馆”. The date is still 5月2日; only the time and place are changed, so she should not assume the test is cancelled because the library is closed. Her bus leaves at 1:40 and takes 25 minutes, so it arrives at school at 2:05. That is already five minutes after the test starts, before allowing time to walk from the bus stop to Room 12. Her 1 p.m. dental appointment makes the plan tighter, because it may not finish exactly at 1:30. She should take an earlier bus or ask whether she can arrive by 1:50 at the latest; relying on the 1:40 bus is unsafe.
3. Which detail in the two texts is a distractor, and what mistaken conclusion might it produce? What should she do with the electronic dictionary?
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The word “图书馆” is a distractor because it appears in both texts: the library is closed, and the teacher explicitly says the test is “不在图书馆”. A student who skims might conclude that the test is cancelled or moved because of the closure, or go to the library out of habit. The closure affects the building and book return, not the test, which is still on 2 May at 2 p.m. in Room 12. The electronic dictionary is also a trap: “不要带电子词典” means leave it at home, not bring it for the test. She should pack a pencil and eraser, leave the dictionary at home, and plan to return the book on 4 May.