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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who has written about the "occasions of poetry" (pg 9)?
(a) William Shakespeare.
(b) T. S. Eliot.
(c) Thomas Gunn.
(d) Admiral Nelson.

2. When did Sacks begin writing to Luria?
(a) 1973.
(b) 1983.
(c) 1977.
(d) 1955.

3. What language was the sign "BEWARE OF THE BULL!" written in?
(a) Norwegian.
(b) English.
(c) French.
(d) German.

4. How did Sacks splint his leg?
(a) With his walking stick.
(b) With his right leg.
(c) With a stick he found on the ground.
(d) With his umbrella.

5. According to Sacks, why does he not end his story after his rescue?
(a) The book was not long enough to stop.
(b) The focus of the book is the recovery, not the accident.
(c) The accident is closely connected to the story of recovery.
(d) He had so many ideas left to convey.

6. While waiting for villagers to arrive and take him to the hospital, how did Sacks feel?
(a) Anxious.
(b) Worried about the doctor's prognosis.
(c) Thrilled to be alive.
(d) Comfortable and happy.

7. Why did Sacks write to A. R. Luria?
(a) Luria was the leading neuropsychologist in the United States.
(b) He wanted reassurance about writing his book.
(c) He was not getting satisfactory answers from his own doctor.
(d) Luria was a close family friend.

8. How did Sacks meet the bull?
(a) The bull looked like a boulder until he got close to it.
(b) He came over a small rise and the bull was lying in the grass.
(c) He rounded a boulder and it was lying in the path.
(d) The bull walked out of a stand of trees.

9. What was the main injury that Sacks was able to identify?
(a) His femur was broken.
(b) The quadriceps was paralyzed.
(c) An artery was torn.
(d) The leg was becoming horribly discolored.

10. How old was Sacks when he discovered the beauty of the world through the Pythagorean theorem?
(a) Twenty-one.
(b) Eight.
(c) Five.
(d) Twelve.

11. Following the surgery, how did Sacks's cast fit his leg?
(a) The leg was horribly swollen in the cast.
(b) The leg fit nearly perfectly in the cast.
(c) He could put two fingers between his leg and the cas.
(d) He could put his entire fist between his leg and the cast.

12. What was the primary reason that Sacks and his friends celebrated the evening after his surgery?
(a) They were alive and together.
(b) Sacks' recovery was expected to take two short months.
(c) Sacks had not died on the operating table.
(d) They were drunk and did not care what they celebrated.

13. What was the first exercise that Sacks tried to do with the physiotherapist?
(a) Lift his leg.
(b) Tense up his quadriceps.
(c) Bend his knee.
(d) Swing his leg to the left.

14. What emotion did Sacks see several times on the unguarded face of the physiotherapist?
(a) Pain.
(b) Disgust.
(c) Revulsion.
(d) Sadness.

15. As Sacks notes at the beginning of the Acknowledgments, what has he done since his injury?
(a) Strengthened his legs so he could hike again.
(b) Investigated current neuropsychological practice.
(c) Interviewed hundreds of similar patients.
(d) Written two other books about medical phenomena.

Short Answer Questions

1. What role did Mary-Kay Wilmers play in Sacks's recovery?

2. How long did Sacks think about his injury before he began writing about it?

3. When was Studies in Neurology published?

4. What word does Sacks use most to describe the bull?

5. What was the name of the surgeon who performed Sacks's knee surgery?

(see the answer keys)

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