High 3 · Reading series
Lesson 59 · The Question after the Exam
Audio track 59
Listen first
Listen once before opening the English passage.
Open the English passage and hover for word help
After the English exam, I checked my answers and found a sentence I had misunderstood. The question asked why a town had changed its library hours. I knew every important word, yet I had missed the phrase “provided that,” which limited the plan to days when enough staff were available.
My first reaction was to count the lost points. Later I copied the paragraph into a notebook and drew lines between the proposal, its condition, and the reason for that condition. The town wanted more access, but staff needed a workable schedule. The passage was describing a compromise, not a simple promise.
I wrote a new question beside it: “What changes if the condition is removed?” Answering that took me beyond the test item and back into the story. I could see why the writer had chosen those words.
The score mattered for my plans, and I did not pretend otherwise. But the sentence I had missed became useful when I stopped treating it only as a lost point and began reading its connections.
Check your understanding
After reading, state the main idea in one sentence and find a line that supports it.
Chinese translation
英语考试后，我对照答案，发现有一句理解错了。题目问小镇为什么改变图书馆开放时间。重要单词我都认识，却漏看了“provided that”：计划只在有足够员工值班的日子实施。
我最初只顾算丢了几分。后来，我把段落抄进笔记本，画线连起提议、它的条件以及设下条件的原因。小镇希望更多人能用图书馆，但员工也需要可行的排班。文章写的是一种折中，不是一句无条件的承诺。
我在旁边写下新问题：“如果去掉这个条件，会怎样？”回答它，使我越过考试题目，回到故事本身。我看清作者为什么选用那些词。
分数关系到我的计划，我并不假装它不重要。但那句漏读的话，在我不再只把它当成失分、转而读懂前后联系时，变得真正有用。
Key words and expressions
Key terms have Chinese explanations. Hover over dotted words in the English passage for word help and pronunciation when available.
- misunderstood
- 误解；学生漏看限制。
- provided that
- 只要；关键条件连接词。
- limited
- 限制；计划只适用于部分日期。
- available
- 可用的；须有足够员工。
- reaction
- 反应；起初只算失分。
- proposal
- 提议；延长开放时间。
- condition
- 条件；决定何时实施。
- compromise
- 折中；兼顾使用与排班。
- removed
- 移除；新问题探讨去条件。
- connections
- 联系；把词与段落逻辑连起。
Background notes (Chinese)
provided that 表示条件；忽略它会把受人手限制的延时开放误读成无条件承诺。