Asuka the Pilot of Unit-04? Bizarre Question in the Listening Section of JLPT

photo by NeitoShaw

The Japanese-Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) administered by the Japan Foundation and Japan Educational Exchanges and Services is an examination to evaluate and certify the Japanese language proficiency of non-native speakers.

An audio clip of a question in the listening section of the test came out on the Internet, in which a girl named Asuka pilots Unit-04 "Mobile Fighter" to defeat giant monster. Sounds familiar?

Read on for details and pics.
yam 天空部落-影音分享-2009日檢1級聽力題目

The audio clip posted on the forum above is said to be a question from Level 1(the highest level, normally reached after 900 hours of studying Japanese) of the 2009 JLPT. There were some speculations at first about whether this really was in the test or just a scam but one of our readers living in Thailand confirmed us that yes, it was actually one of the questions in this year's JPLT according to his wife who took it, and she (who had no knowledge of Evangelion nor Gundam) quizzed him back about the anime.

In the audio clip you listen to a supposed radio drama at first and answer the following question regarding the story. Here's the dialogues in the "drama" part, in Japanese, Romanization of Japanese and English translation.

（警告音）

「隊長、第二次防衛線が突破されました！巨大怪獣はまっすぐ中央管理システムに向かってます！このままではあと30分も持ちません」
「今出せるモビルファイターは？」
「零号機だけです」
「やむを得ん、四号機を出すぞ」
「四号機はまだテストが完了していません！それに操縦できるパイロットが現在誰も…」
「零号機では奴の侵入は防ぎきれん。ここは…私が行く」
「隊長みずから！？でもそのケガでは、四号機の加速に耐えられません！」
「私が行きます！」
「アスカ！」
「私なら四号機を操れます！お願いです、行かせてください！」
「だがお前はまだ訓練中の身だ。今は子供の出る幕じゃないぞ！」
「そんなこと言ってる場合じゃない！」
「おい、アスカ！待て！」

（ナレーション）四号機発射準備、完了しました

「アスカ、頼んだぞ…！」


(Buzzer)

"Taicho, Dainiji boueisen ga toppa saremashita! Kyodai kaiju wa massugu chuo-kanri shistemu ni mukatte imasu! Konomama dewa ato sanju pun mo mochimasen!"
"Ima daseru mobiru faitaa wa?"
"Zero-gouki dake desu"
"Yamu wo en, Yon-gouki wo dasuzo"
"Yon-gouki wa mada testo ga kanryo shite imasen! Soreni soju dekiru pailotto ga genzai daremo..."

"Zero-gouki dewa yatsu no shinnyu wa fusegikiren. Kokowa...watashi ga iku"
"Taicho mizukara!? Demo sono kega dewa, yon-gouki no kasoku ni taeraremasen!"
"Watashi ga ikimasu!!"
"Asuka!"
"Watashi nara yon-gouki wo ayatsuremasu! Onegaidesu, ikasete kudasai!"
"Daga omae wa mada kunrenchu no mi da. Ima wa kodomo no deru maku ja naizo!"
"Sonna koto itteru baai ja nai!"
"Oi, Asuka! Mate!"

(Narration)Yon-gouki hassha junbi, kanryo shimashita.

"Asuka, tanondazo...!"


(Buzzer)

"Captain, the second defence line is broken through! The giant monster is heading straight to the central control system! It won't hold for another 30 minutes at this rate!"
"Which mobile fighter is available now?"
"Only Unit-0"
"We have no choice, let's get Unit-4 ready"
"We haven't finished the tests on Unit-4! And no pilot we've got right now can handle it..."
"Unit-0 can't stop him invading. I'll go this time"
"Captain, you go yourself!? But you can't stand the acceleration of Unit-4 with your wound!"
"I'll go!!"
"Asuka!"
"I can pilot Unit-4! Please, let me go!"
"But you're still on training. This is no time for a child to interfere!"
"This is no time for that nonsense!"
"Hey, Asuka! Wait!"

(Narration) Unit-4 Ready to take off.

"Asuka, we're counting on you...!"

There's already a video posted on YouTube of this dialogue with soundtrack from Evangelion.
YouTube - JLPT 日本語能力試験 一級 エヴァンゲリオン with BGM

You can't help imagining Gendo himself volunteering to pilot Unit-04...It sounds like a pretty tough question even for us native Japanese speakers, but many people seem to be learning Japanese from anime today so in fact this unlikely situation might have been easier than pieces from everyday chit-chat or realistic news recordings.