Test Question

[RogerGe]

Found this test question in an HSK6 mock test book. What do you think the answer is, and why? 

[Geiko]

I think I have that mock test book, I remember I chose the wrong option and I still think my choice was ok

[imron]

There's only one correct answer.  Not sure whether or not the other people who voted are just trying to be funny

[imron]

Ok, just saw your edit asking for why, so here goes.

 

爸爸不喜欢学习 - Clearly not this.  It's the son who doesn't like studying, and Dad is upset at that, therefore it's highly likely that Dad thinks studying is a good thing.

爸爸和儿子都喜欢去游戏厅 - The son likes going to the arcade.  The Dad only goes there looking for his son.

儿子去过9次游戏厅 - Not true, the Dad was just being figurative - 'you're there 9 times out of 10'.

爸爸很生气 - Winner, winner, chicken dinner.  It says so right there at the beginning of the second sentence - 儿子不喜欢学习，常常去游戏厅。爸爸很生气.

 

[somethingfunny]

I wish I'd read that this was from an HSK test before submitting my answer.

[Geiko]

I'm the one who chose the second option, and I chose it because I knew that's the correct answer according to the answer key. When I took that mock test I chose the last option, and from my point of view d) is the right answer. But I assumed b) was correct under the Chinese logic. 

[imron]

I wonder if the answer key is wrong It wouldn't be the first time I've seen that happen, and in the replies at least one native speaker has voted for d) also.

[Para1430]

I guess  4th is the most relevant one....

[lips]

Obviously a trick question.

[889]

Which is why the exact wording of the question is important. Where is it?

 

(Years of test taking have taught us all that if an answer is too obvious -- e.g., word for word from the text in a reading comprehension exam -- then it must be wrong. So the trick here probably is, why the last choice doesn't answer the question. Whatever the question is.)

[imron]

Years of test taking have also taught us that if there is one answer that appears clearly correct and several that could maybe be correct depending on certain conditions that aren't clearly specified then the answer is the obvious one.

 

Now it could be that the Dad likes going to the arcade too, but it's also just as likely that the only time he goes there is to look for his son, and there is no clear indication of that in the text.  However, in order for "爸爸和儿子都喜欢去游戏厅" to be the correct answer, then by necessity "爸爸很生气" has to be incorrect, and I don't see how any reading of the text would indicate that "爸爸很生气" is incorrect.

[889]

How do you know the answer if you don't know the question.

 

[imron]

That is an excellent point!

[roddy]

The wording of the question might make b the right answer. I hope so, as if the answer is d it's a terrible question - the answer is *literally* in the text. You could give that as posted here to someone who'd never studied a day of Chinese and they'd get it right by treating it as an exercise in matching shapes.

 

Hopefully the question is something like "爸爸和儿子都喜欢什么?" and d) is there to catch people who are just matching shapes. Edit: Actually no, then you just match the question with the answer. Also, is this a listening transcript? WE NEED INFORMATION!

 

I'd also ask who published the book - there's a lot of shoddy stuff out there. 

[Lu]

15 minutes ago, roddy said:

I hope so, as if the answer is d it's a terrible question - the answer is *literally* in the text.

I've done a Chinese test (not the HSK), testing me for a fairly high level of Chinese and requiring me to write a short essay (by hand) where this was about the level of the reading exercise. I felt insulted.

[Geiko]

1 hour ago, roddy said:

Hopefully the question is something like "爸爸和儿子都喜欢什么?" and d) is there to catch people who are just matching shapes. Edit: Actually no, then you just match the question with the answer. Also, is this a listening transcript? WE NEED INFORMATION!

 

I'd also ask who published the book - there's a lot of shoddy stuff out there.

 

I'm not at home at the moment, so I can't double check it now, but this is the book, it's the ninth mock test, the sixth question in the listening part, and if I remember correctly, in this part of the listening there is no question, you only listen to the dialog and then choose the option that you think fits best. I think what Roger posted is the whole transcript.

[889]

"Select the statement not supported by the text."

 

In which case it's the first statement. The other statements have at least a degree of support in the text.

 

(It's true we've been sent round in circles often enough here by sloppy transcriptions, so I wouldn't take the OP's language as Gospel.)

[somethingfunny]

“情选出与所听内容一致的一项。”

 

答案说明：“十次有九次看到你”说明儿子常常去游戏厅，爸爸也常去那里。所以选B。

 

Poor quality question.  I doubt it would happen on the actual test.

[Geiko]

That's the reason why I couldn't believe it was a typo in the first place: this book provides short explanations together with the answer key. Mistaking a b for a d is very easy, but writing a whole sentence explaining why a wrong answer is right is less likely (and yet possible!).