N1 Grammar · Test 62

The correct answer is 3「買わずにすんだ」. The pattern「〜ずにすむ」means 'to get by without doing ~' or 'to be able to avoid doing ~.' The context says a friend gave the speaker a spare concert ticket, so thanks to that, the speaker didn't have to buy one: 「券を買わずにすんだ」= 'I was able to get by without buying a ticket.' The friend's gift saved the speaker from having to purchase a ticket.

• 1「買わずにはいられなかった」means 'couldn't help but not buy' or 'couldn't resist not buying,' which is awkward and contradictory. It would imply an irresistible urge NOT to buy, which doesn't fit the context.
• 2「買わざるをえなかった」means 'had no choice but to buy.' This contradicts the context — the friend gave a ticket, so the speaker did NOT have to buy one.
• 4「買わずにはすまなかった」means 'couldn't get away without buying' or 'couldn't settle the matter without buying.' This implies the speaker was obligated to buy a ticket, which contradicts the fact that the friend provided one for free.

• 〜ずにすむ — to get by without doing ~; to be able to avoid doing ~ (thanks to some fortunate circumstance)
• 〜ずにはいられない — cannot help doing ~; cannot resist doing ~
• 〜ざるをえない — have no choice but to ~
• 〜ずにはすまない — cannot get away without doing ~; cannot settle the matter without doing ~

どころか means 'far from ~ing, (not even ~).' The sentence says: people who lack an objective perspective on Japan — far from aiming to be international persons, even their qualification to utter the word 'international' is doubtful. どころか expresses that the second statement is even more extreme/negative than the first, perfectly fitting the structure '〜どころか、〜すら（even）.'

• 2からして means 'even starting from / judging from.' It doesn't fit here because the sentence needs 'far from doing X, not even Y,' a contrastive escalation pattern.
• 3ばかりか means 'not only ~ but also.' While similar, it doesn't pair naturally with すら in the second clause the way どころか does. どころか specifically conveys 'far from X, not even Y,' which is the intended meaning.
• 4ゆえに means 'therefore / because of.' Inserting it would give 'because they aim to be international persons, their qualification is doubtful,' which is illogical — the sentence needs a 'far from' contrast, not a causal connection.

• どころか — far from ~ing; instead of ~, not even ~
• 客観的な視点（きゃっかんてきなしてん） — objective perspective
• 欠かけている — lacking, missing
• 疑うたがわしい — doubtful, questionable

ぐらいでないと means 'unless (one can endure) to that extent.' The sentence says: H氏, who grew a small shop into a world-class enterprise, said his life was a series of failures. 'Unless you can endure failures like H氏 did, you shouldn't even hope for success' — i.e., you must be able to endure failures at least to that degree. ぐらいでないと = 'unless at least to that degree.'

• 1ばかりだと means 'if it's only ~.' 失敗に耐えらればかりだと is ungrammatical (ばかり doesn't attach to the potential form this way) and doesn't convey 'unless you can endure to that level.'
• 3ぐらいだと means 'if it's about that level.' This gives a positive conditional, but the sentence needs a negative conditional ('unless'), so the meaning would be wrong.
• 4までもないと is ungrammatical in this context. 〜までもない means 'no need to go as far as ~,' and doesn't fit the structure 失敗に耐えられ___、成功は望まない.

• 〜ぐらいでないと — unless at least to that degree; unless one can ~ to that extent
• 耐たえる — to endure, withstand
• 失敗の連続（しっぱいのれんぞく） — a series of failures
• 思い知らされた（おもいしらされた） — was made to realize (passive causative of 思い知る)

しかればよいというものではない means 'it is not the case that simply scolding is enough.' The passage says some parents one-sidedly scold children without considering their perspective, but parents shouldn't just scold — the parent-child relationship is supported by trust, and without it, children will only rebel. 〜というものではない means 'it's not necessarily the case that ~ / one cannot simply say ~.'

• 1しからないともいえない means 'one cannot say they shouldn't scold.' This doesn't fit — the passage argues against only scolding, not that scolding is sometimes necessary.
• 2しかるよりほかにはしかたがない means 'there is nothing to do but scold.' This contradicts the passage, which says trust is essential and scolding alone is insufficient.
• 3しからないではいられない means 'cannot help but scold.' This would mean parents are compelled to scold, which doesn't match the argument that parents shouldn't rely on scolding alone.

• 〜というものではない — it is not the case that ~; one cannot simply say ~
• 一方的いっぽうてきに — one-sidedly, unilaterally
• しかりつける — to scold severely
• 反発はんぱつする — to rebel, resist
• 信頼関係しんらいかんけい — relationship of trust