（ちょっとネタバレ）パート2は状況イメージ

（注意）パート2の2題だけですが新形式の問題について触れていますのでご留意ください。


新形式の公式問題集のパート2を見ていて、すぐに状況をイメージできないものがありました。他の応答が明らかにおかしかったので回答はすぐに分かったのですがモヤモヤが残りました。

すぐに状況を理解できなかったというパート2は以下です。

Didn’t you see the review of our restaurant?

最初、レストランの店員が客に対して言ったものだと思ったので違和感を抱いたのです。もしそうだとしたら相当上目線ですよね（苦笑）

この質問はきっとレストランの従業員同士の会話でしょうね。勤務するレストランの新聞や雑誌のレビューが載ったので話題になっているのではないでしょうか。まあ他にもこの表現が使われるにふさわしい状況があるかもしれませんがYutaは上記のような状況を想像できてようやくこの表現がピンときたのでした。

以下のやりとりも状況をイメージするのに苦労しました。

Are you riding your bike to work today?
- Only if the weather’s nice.

このやりとりがしっかりとはまる状況を考えてみました。聞く方も「今日は自転車で出勤するのか」とわざわざきいていますので状況は「雨などが降っていて天候が悪い時の出勤前、一緒に住んでいる家族に聞かれて、このように答えて今日は自電車に乗っていかない」というものです。もちろん他にもあるかもしれませんが、表現をより具体的な状況に結びつける作業をすると頭に残りやすくなります。

Didn’t you see the review of our restaurant?に戻りますが、開業後苦しんでいたレストランが新聞で絶賛レビューを受けて繁盛するようになったというドラマのような話がありました。TOEIC的にはCaféがレストランを指す場合も多いということも合わせておさえておきたいです。

Joe Pollack and the Supper of the Lamb
Posted By Cheryl Baehr on Wed, Aug 21, 2013 at 9:00 am
Could one man's love of lamb chops turn a restaurant into an overnight success? This appears to be the case for Cafe Natasha's (3200 South Grand Boulevard; 314-771-3411).
In the days before Yelp, Urban Spoon and the blogosphere, restaurant reviews could make or break a place. Food critics once had the power to pluck virtual unknowns from obscurity and turn them into culinary powerhouses (legend has it, this is how an off-the-beaten path Virginia country inn and eatery named The Inn at Little Washington was catapulted to its venerable spot as one of the top restaurants in the country).

こちらはレストランの常連が"Didn't you see the review?"と店主に聞いたようです。

Just how much of a success Cafe Natasha's was destined to be became apparent one afternoon with a tip from one of The Little Kitchen's regulars. The woman saw Hamishe working the counter and frantically asked, "What are you doing here?" Confused, Hamishe asked the woman what she meant -- after all, it was regular business hours and she was going about her regular business.
"Didn't you see the review?" the woman asked.
"What review?"
"The Joe Pollack review, from the Post-Dispatch. You have to get out of here right away and get ready!"
It turns out, Joe Pollack, the infamous St. Louis Post Dispatch restaurant reviewer, had been in the previous week and tasted what he believed were the best lamb chops he had ever had. What followed was one of the most glowing reviews the man had ever given. The floodgates opened.
"We saw the line start forming around 4 p.m.," Beshid recalls. "We had no idea what to expect, and we were not at all prepared."
The onslaught of customers, eager to experience the now-famous lamb chops, began as soon as the front doors opened and did not end until well after the restaurant was scheduled to close. Somehow, the Bahramis managed to feed them all; to this day, they have no idea how. Beshid admits that the night had its share of hitches, and although they confidently prepared delicious food, they were simply unable to flawlessly handle the volume. Still, patrons returned, with the knowledge that the lamb chops were worth whatever wait they would have to endure.

それではレストランでbad reviewを受けた場合はどうなるでしょうか。昔よく見ていたフレンズに以下のようなエピソードがありました。大笑いしたエピソードの一つです。

このエピソードの和訳はこちらから。

The One With The Cooking Class
[Scene: Central Perk, everyone is there except Monica as Ross enters carrying a huge stack of newspapers.]
Ross: Hey you guys I got some bad news. (He sets the stack of papers down on the table.)
Phoebe: Well that’s no way to sell newspapers. Why don’t you try, "Extra! Extra! Read all about it!"
Ross: No, Monica’s restaurant got a horrible review in the Post. (They all gasp.) I didn’t want her to see it, so I ran around the neighborhood and bought all the copies I could find. (He hands the paper to Phoebe and they all read it.)
Joey: Man, this is bad! And I’ve had my share of bad reviews. I still remember my first good one though. (Quoting) "Everything else in this production of Our Town was simply terrible. Joey Tribbiani was abysmal."
Monica: (entering) Hey!
Chandler: Hey.
Monica: (seeing the stack of newspapers) Oh my God! Look at all the newspapers! It must be a good review! Is it great?!
Ross: Umm…
Monica: (reading) Oh dear God!
Ross: But the good news is, no one in a two-block radius will ever know.
Monica: What about the rest of Manhattan?!
Ross: Yeah, they all know.
Monica: Oh my God, this is horrible!
Chandler: I’m so sorry.
Monica: I’m so humiliated!
Rachel: Yeah but y’know what they say Mon, "There’s no such thing as bad press."
Monica: You don’t think that umm, (reading) "The chef’s Mahi Mahi was awful awful," is bad press?
Rachel: I didn’t write it.
Monica: Is he right? Am I really—Am I awful?
All: No!
Joey: Yeah! Yeah Monica! You listen to me, okay? And I’m not just saying this because I’m your friend, I’m sayin’ it ‘cause it’s the truth. You’re food is abysmal!

昔はパート2のやりとりを膨らませていくという練習方法を勧めているTOEIC講師もいたような気がします。TOEICそのものから発展させていく作業もしていけば、TOEICの表現をもっともと自分のものにできるに違いありません。