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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does "feathery fire" describe in the poem "There Will Come Soft Rains"?
(a) The color of the rays of the sun coming over the horizon.
(b) The movement of flames destroying the earth.
(c) The color of a male robin's breast.
(d) The movement of feathers in the sunshine.

2. What is thematically important about the cause of the fire in the kitchen?
(a) The fire is started when the natural world intrudes into the house.
(b) The fire is started by the family dog.
(c) The fire is started when the house's elaborate machinery begins to break down.
(d) The fire is started when one of the cleaning mice knocks over a cleaning product.

3. Which is the best summary of how the poem "There Will Come Soft Rains" compares to the short story of the same name?
(a) The poem is a darker version of the same ideas contained in the short story.
(b) The poem is more hopeful about humankind's future.
(c) The poem focuses more on the role of technology in humankind's demise.
(d) The poem focuses more on the survival of a world without humans.

4. What does Bradbury compare the chemical fire-fighting foam to?
(a) Clouds.
(b) Snakes.
(c) Seafoam.
(d) Elephants.

5. In the image of animals, the panther is said to be "cavorting." What is this panther doing?
(a) Playing.
(b) Hunting.
(c) Eating.
(d) Sleeping.

6. Just before the house collapses, what does it do?
(a) It begins performing multiple functions over and over.
(b) It announces the wrong date and time.
(c) It dumps out all of the liquor, coffee, and milk in one last attempt to fight the fire.
(d) It shuts down entirely except for its "voice" function.

7. "Seven-nine, breakfast time" is an example of which rhyming technique?
(a) Eye rhyme.
(b) Slant rhyme.
(c) Identical rhyme.
(d) End rhyme.

8. When the story ends, what is left standing?
(a) A tree.
(b) A distant building.
(c) Nothing.
(d) One wall of the house.

9. To what famous dog is this dog an allusion?
(a) President Lincoln's dog.
(b) Buck, from Call of the Wild.
(c) Odysseus's dog.
(d) Cerberus.

10. What happens to the dog when it cannot get into the kitchen?
(a) It runs through the house breaking things.
(b) It scratches through the door.
(c) It leaves the house.
(d) It dies.

11. In which city does the story take place?
(a) Sacramento.
(b) Allendale.
(c) Petaluma.
(d) San Francisco.

12. Who is Baal?
(a) A Mesopotamian warrior.
(b) An Egyptian pharaoh.
(c) A pre-Christian god.
(d) The dog that guards hell in Greek mythology.

13. What historical event is alluded to with the date given in the beginning of the story?
(a) The beginning of the Cold War.
(b) The bombing of Hiroshima.
(c) The beginning of World War II.
(d) The first testing of a nuclear bomb.

14. Why does the dog want to get into the kitchen so badly?
(a) The house has begun making pancakes.
(b) It thinks the family is in the kitchen.
(c) Its food dish is in the kitchen.
(d) The rest of the house is filling with smoke.

15. When the fire travels outside and up the sides of the house, it is described as what?
(a) Mischievous.
(b) Clever.
(c) Treacherous.
(d) Overwhelming.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where are the "aluminium roaches and iron crickets"?

2. What is the probable purpose of emphasizing the roundness of the smoke plume and the great quantity of smoke?

3. From two thirty-five to four o'clock, what can readers infer that the family would ordinarily be doing?

4. What is the name of the family that owned the house?

5. To what does Bradbury compare folding tables?

(see the answer keys)

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