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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through At a Loss, Old News, Rules for Living, Our Town, Word Play, Last Night on the Titanic, Property News, Life's Technicalities, An Address and Coming Home: Part II.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Bill say is a strange feature of their car?
(a) It dispenses ice.
(b) The steering wheel is heated.
(c) It has no cup holders.
(d) There is an indentation on the dashboard with no obvious use.

2. In "Word Play," what word does Bryson say is used for "muesli" in America?
(a) Cauliflower.
(b) Burritos.
(c) Granola.
(d) Gasoline.

3. In "The Best American Holiday," what does Bryson say about his mother?
(a) Once a year, for Thanksgiving, she'd make a great meal.
(b) She had Thanksgiving catered.
(c) She was a great cook.
(d) She tried, but the Thanksgiving meal was always a failure.

4. Why does Bryson have to buy a whole new computer and fax system when he returns to the United States?
(a) The British have a different electrical system.
(b) All his electronics got lost on the way.
(c) His kids were tired of using the family's 1980s model.
(d) He'd never owned a computer but now needed one for work.

5. How do 40,000 Americans die a year, according to Bryson?
(a) By accidents on construction sites.
(b) By falling under trains.
(c) By contracting hepatitis.
(d) By gunshot wounds.

Short Answer Questions

1. Bryson says that 94% of Americans' trips from home involve the use of something in particular. What is that item?

2. According to Bryson, what is the result of the "abundance of choice" in America?

3. In "The Risk Factor," what does Bryson say an American is twice as likely to do as a British person?

4. What does Bryson do in the section called "Life's Mysteries"?

5. What does Bill say it would take over 31,000 years to do?

(see the answer key)

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