N3 Reading · Test 63

Option 3 is correct. The first paragraph states: 'この斜面は人が入りにくく、草取りができないため、草がたくさん生えて虫も増え、みんな困っていました' (Because this slope is hard for people to enter and grass-pulling cannot be done, grass grew abundantly, bugs increased, and everyone was troubled). The core 'problem' (この問題) that the school set out to solve is that the surrounding land is difficult to access, making grass-pulling impossible. Option 3 captures this directly: '中学校の周りの土地が、入りにくくて草取りができないこと' (The land around the school is hard to enter and grass-pulling cannot be done).

• 1This option says bugs make grass-pulling difficult, reversing the causal relationship. The text says the inability to pull grass CAUSED grass to grow and bugs to increase—not that bugs caused the difficulty.
• 2The text never says grass grows back no matter how much you pull it. The problem is that grass-pulling cannot be done at all because the land is inaccessible, not that it regrows quickly.
• 4This describes the solution (sheep eating grass), not the problem. The sheep eating grass is the method devised to solve the problem, so it cannot be the problem itself.

• 斜面しゃめん — slope, inclined surface
• 草取くさとり — weeding, pulling grass
• 解決かいけつする — to solve, to resolve

Option 4 is correct. The text says: '来た羊は春と同じでしたが、草が減るのが遅かったのです。秋の草は少し硬くて食べにくかったようです' (The sheep that came were the same as in spring, but the grass decreased more slowly. The autumn grass was a bit hard and seemed difficult to eat). The difference from spring is that in autumn, the sheep did not eat the grass as quickly as they did in spring. Option 4 states exactly this: '羊が春ほど早く草を食べなかったこと' (The sheep did not eat the grass as quickly as in spring).

• 1The text says '来た羊は春と同じでした' (The sheep that came were the same as in spring), meaning the number of sheep was the same (4 head). There is no mention of fewer sheep than planned.
• 2The text explicitly states '来た羊は春と同じでした' (The sheep that came were the same as in spring), directly contradicting this option which claims different sheep came.
• 3There is no mention of the sheep arriving later than scheduled. The difference noted is about how fast the grass decreased, not about timing of arrival.

• 減へる — to decrease, to reduce
• 硬かたい — hard, stiff
• 遅おそい — slow, late

Option 2 is correct. The text states: '近所の人たちが毎日羊を見に来るようになり、ふだんは話す機会の少ない中学生たちとも次第に交流が生まれていったのです' (Neighbors started coming to see the sheep every day, and communication gradually developed even with the middle school students with whom they usually had few opportunities to talk). The additional effect beyond the land becoming clean is that neighbors and students gradually began interacting with each other. Option 2 captures this: '近所の人たちと中学生が、だんだん交流をするようになった' (Neighbors and students gradually started interacting).

• 1The text says sheep come only twice a year for one month each time, so '一年中' (all year round) is incorrect. The interaction is not year-round.
• 3There is no mention of anyone doing weeding in their own home gardens. This is unrelated to the passage content.
• 4There is no mention of anyone wanting to raise sheep themselves. The text only describes people coming to see the borrowed sheep.

• 近所きんじょ — neighborhood, nearby area
• 交流こうりゅう — interaction, exchange, communication
• 次第しだいに — gradually, little by little