木村：先生の文章が大学の入試問題に使われていますね。事前に問い合わせがあったのですか。
佐藤：いいえ、試験という性格上、事後承諾になるのもやむを得ないでしょうね。
Yamu-wo enai
Kimura: Sensei no bunshoo ga daigaku no nyuushi mondai ni tsukawarete imasu ne. Jizen ni toiawase ga atta no desu ka.
Sato: lie, shiken to iu seikaku-joo, jigo shoodaku ni naru no mo yamu wo enai deshoo ne.
Kimura: I see a piece of your writing was used in a university entrance exam paper. Did they arrange that with you beforehand?
Sato: No, I think because it's an exam, they don't have a choice other than to ask for permission after the event.
Yamu wo enai means unavoidable, unable to be helped, beyond one's control.
In my mail the other daywas a brown envelope with the name Chuo University written on it.
Without thinking much about it, I opened it and out dropped the question paper for this year's entrance examination.
When I took a closer look, I noticed that part of the text I had written in one of my books had been used in one of the questions. Naturally, my name and the name of the book had been acknowledged at the end of the quotation.
This is the third time a piece of my writing has been used in university entrance exams, and I am now well aware that Sakusha ni sodan ga nai no wa, yamu wo enai koto (There is nothing you can do about the fact that they don't consult the author). If they were to consult you and then somehow the contents of the exam were leaked, it would create an even bigger problem.
And besides, it is nice finding that something you wrote yourself has been used in a university entrance exam. There is something encouraging about the fact that it was considered worthy, as it were. My husband reacted very kindly, too. Tsui ureshiku natte boku ni jiman shitaku naru no mo, yamu wo enai ne (I understand that you're so happy you can't help wanting to show it off to me).
This expression is used when you can see for yourself the cause of a problem. Because of the current recession, for example, Boonasu ga sukunai no mo yamu wo enai (There's no avoiding a smaller bonus); or because summer is the peak travel season, Hikooki ga takai no mo yamu wo enai (There's no helping the higher cost of air tickets). We also use this expression in the formyamu wo ezu-sum, as in isoide ita no de, yamu wo ezu takushi ni notta (We were in such a hurry that we had no choice but to take a taxi). When used in this way, it means that although we really did notwant to do so, we had no choice.