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Study Guide

Field 126: Japanese CST 
Interpretive Reading

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Directions for Interpretive Reading Selected-Response Questions

For the Interpretive Reading section of the test, you will read passages written in the target language and answer selected-response questions written in the target language based on each passage.

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Sample Interpretive Reading Selected-Response Questions

Competency 0002 
Interpretive Reading

 start bold Read the passage below from , a novel by (Haruki Murakami); then answer the five questions that follow. end bold 

 footnote 1 extremely

 footnote 2 every single one

 footnote 3 rumor

 footnote 4 a dry well

 footnote 5 uniformly

 footnote 6 baloney

 footnote 7 the reason

 footnote 8 a cardboard box

 footnote 9 acorn

 footnote 10 gnaw

 footnote 11 not much to gain in spite of the efforts

"1973 nen no Pinboru (Pinball, 1973)" by Haruki Murakami. Copyright 1980 Haruki Murakami. Used by Permission. All rights reserved.

1. 主人公はどういう人物として描かれていますか。

  1. 動物好きな人
  2. 熱心に話を語る人
  3. うわさ好きな人
  4. 熱心に話を聞く人
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: D. This question requires examinees to draw logical inferences or conclusions based on the context, situation, and information given in a text and to identify evidence to support inferences drawn from the text. In the passage, the main character's own description of how he liked listening to others and how he satisfied his desire and as well as his confidence in his abilities to listen to others establish that the main character is an earnest listener.

2. 主人公は文章中で自分を何に例えていますか。

  1. 猿さる
  2. 石
  3. 段ボール箱
  4. 涸か れた井戸いど
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: D. This question requires examinees to analyze the structure and organization of a text, including how specific parts of the text interrelate and how the author's choices regarding structure and organization within the text are used to achieve particular effects. As the main character proceeds to describe in more details his capacity to listen to other people's stories, the figurative expression "as if [they were] tossing rocks down a dry well" () is introduced as a means to illustrate the infinite number of stories he was able to absorb like a deep dry well.

3. 四段落目の猿さるを題材にした話は、この文章においてどのような役割を果たしていますか。

  1. 主人公の活動を別のものに例えて説明する。
  2. 文章全体をまとめる。
  3. 主人公の抱える問題を再び考えさせる。
  4. ある事実を紹介する。
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: A. This question requires examinees to analyze the communicative strategies and the social and cultural contexts of a text to determine an assumption, an intent, a perspective, or a point of view in the text, including how the author's point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text. The main character claimed that he was willing to listen to anyone's story regardless of who he or she was. He introduces the image of "a box full of monkeys" as a means to illustrate how he offered the same careful "listening treatment" to each one of the numerous individuals who came to him to tell him a story before sending them on their way ().

4. 最後の段落に書かれているマッチは何の例として使われていますか。

  1. 猿さる のおもちゃ
  2. 台所用品
  3. コンクールの賞品
  4. 井戸いど の深さを測る道具
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: C. This question requires examinees to identify explicit and relevant information in a text. In the passage, the main character states that he would have won that year's "World's Most Earnest Listener Contest" if there had been one, and that he would have won a box of kitchen matches for a prize ().

5. 二段落目に書かれている手あたり次第という言葉の意味として最もふさわしいものはどれですか。

  1. 次から次へと
  2. 少しずつ
  3. 全部まとめて
  4. なるべく多く
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: A. This question requires examinees to determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in texts, including distinguishing between nuances of meaning, understanding idiomatic expressions and commonly used figurative language, and understanding key terms and domain-specific words and phrases within the context of the text. The phrase means "everything one can lay one's hand on." In the context of the passage, it is used to emphasize the main character's addiction to listening () and how he would listen to each and every person's story, one after another ().