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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What did Sacks think when he woke from the surgery?
(a) That he had been asleep only a few minutes.
(b) That he was tired and wanted to sleep.
(c) That he had been asleep for seven hours.
(d) That he had been asleep for nearly a day.

2. How has Sacks written the book A Leg to Stand On?
(a) As an autobiography.
(b) As a novel or short story.
(c) As a prose poem.
(d) As an expose.

3. What was the occasion for this book?
(a) The study of an unusual patient.
(b) An accident with peculiar effects.
(c) An accident with expected effects.
(d) Reading a book about an unusual patient.

4. What other word is connoted by the word "hell"?
(a) Hellish.
(b) Hole.
(c) Helplessness.
(d) Help.

5. Where did Sacks finish writing his book?
(a) In a meadow in New Yor.
(b) In a village in Norway.
(c) On a mountain in Costa Rica.
(d) On a mountain in Nicaragua.

6. How is the material in the last chapter presented?
(a) Poetically.
(b) Randomly.
(c) Systematically.
(d) Concisely.

7. Since his accident, what has Sacks been aware of?
(a) The wonder and horror which are an everyday part of life.
(b) The shallowness of everyday life.
(c) The shallowness of human experience.
(d) The wonder and horror which lie just behind life.

8. According to the plane captain, what is the first lesson a patient must learn?
(a) Happiness.
(b) Hopefulness.
(c) Patience.
(d) Peace.

9. When riding to the hospital where he would be operated on, Sacks felt dread. How was this different from the dread he had felt on the mountain?
(a) This dread was less human and more animalistic.
(b) This dread was distorted and nameless.
(c) This dread was deeper than the first.
(d) This dread was fear of man rather than fear of natural consequences.

10. The night after his surgery, what was the first of Sacks's nightmares?
(a) His injured leg was made of marble and he could not lift it.
(b) He was running from the bull but could not move anywhere.
(c) He was again on the Mountain and his leg had lost all its nerves.
(d) He was being trampled by a fish with hooves.

11. What was Sacks doing when he was finally able to piece together his thoughts?
(a) Riding in a car from Annapolis to New York.
(b) Driving from Washington, D.C. to Boston.
(c) Riding a train from Philadelphia to New York.
(d) Riding a train from Boston to New York.

12. Shortly after the sun set, what extraordinary auditory experience did Sacks have?
(a) He could not hear anything outside himself.
(b) He could hear every living creature in the area.
(c) He could no longer hear himself.
(d) He could hear the movement of the plants around him.

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

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

15. What was the name of the surgeon who performed Sacks's knee surgery?
(a) Swan.
(b) Sleeks.
(c) Goose.
(d) Sparrow.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why was Sacks grateful to Dr. Henry Fleck?

2. In order to escape being caught on the mountain all night, what was the latest possible time Sacks could reach help?

3. What does Sacks think of when he remembers the Biblical words, "To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. A time to be born, and a time or die; a time . . ." (pg 26)?

4. What did Sacks feel as he was being admitted to the hospital?

5. Sacks climbed a particular stretch of ground in just over an hour. How long did it take him to descend this same stretch?

(see the answer keys)

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