Japanese from zero · N3 Lesson 41
Reading like the exam
a full N3 passage ・ connectives ・ exam-style questions ・ the year's forms
In this lesson, you will learn to read a full N3-length passage the way the exam asks you to: find its topic and its facts, follow the connectives that turn it, answer the usual question types without falling for the traps, and recognize the forms of the whole year. The passage is Lisa's feature for the club paper, about her second year in Japan.
By the end you will be able to say
昨年の 四月、新聞部に 入りました。Last April, I joined the newspaper club.
夏は 困難な 季節でした。Summer was a hard season.
ところが、台風の 後で 仲直りしました。But after the typhoon, we made up.
筆者が 一番 言いたい ことは 何ですか。What does the writer most want to say?
本文の 内容と 合う ものを 選びます。I choose the option that matches the text.
The grammar in this lesson
- The passage: finding the topic and the facts — Find what the passage is about from its first and last paragraphs, then sort the facts from the writer's own opinions.
- Connectives and clause links in the wild — しかし, ところが, また, そして, その おかげで and なぜなら show where a passage turns and why.
- Exam-style questions: what is asked, what is a trap — Know the two big question types and the three usual traps.
- The forms in the passage, recapped — The passage uses forms from the whole year; knowing them makes the reading fast.