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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What did not occur to Sacks until he injured his leg?
(a) That the bull might be following him.
(b) How far he had climbed up the mountain before falling.
(c) How utterly alone he was.
(d) That he had forgotten to take extra water.

2. Why was Sacks so happy that he could do fifty chin-ups?
(a) Only fifteen hours earlier, he had been delirious with fever.
(b) He wanted to impress the nurse.
(c) He did not have to get out of bed to exercise.
(d) If his torso were strong again, his legs would regain strength more quickly.

3. 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 deeper than the first.
(b) This dread was less human and more animalistic.
(c) This dread was fear of man rather than fear of natural consequences.
(d) This dread was distorted and nameless.

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

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

6. In what publication did Sacks's first article about his injury appear?
(a) New York Times.
(b) London Review of Books.
(c) New York Times Book Review.
(d) Atlantic Monthly.

7. What did Sacks think about as he moved down the mountain?
(a) His father's vegetable garden.
(b) The most heart-wrenching moments of his life.
(c) Happy memories and times.
(d) What little time he had left to live.

8. What did Sacks find astonishing about his wound?
(a) The complexity of effects he experienced during recovery.
(b) The long recovery time.
(c) The pain he felt during his whole recovery.
(d) The inability of his doctors to understand him.

9. Who inspired and encouraged Sacks to finish his book?
(a) His editors.
(b) His wife.
(c) His best friend.
(d) His son.

10. When Nurse Solveig returned to take out Sacks's thermometer, what emotion did she convey?
(a) Concern.
(b) Disinterest.
(c) Rage.
(d) Pity.

11. What would make the state of limbo tolerable?
(a) The concern of a fellow person in limbo.
(b) The ability to communicate with others.
(c) The ability to examine one's own thoughts.
(d) The knowledge of an end to this state.

12. Why was Sacks grateful to Dr. Henry Fleck?
(a) The doctor performed electrical studies on Sack's damaged leg.
(b) The doctor provided valuable support during therapy.
(c) The doctor first explained Sacks' body-ego alienation.
(d) The doctor's book was influential in Sacks' understanding of himself.

13. When Sacks began to write to Luria, where did Luria live?
(a) Berlin.
(b) Moscow.
(c) Madrid.
(d) Oslo.

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. When the father and his son rescued Sacks, what had they been doing just a moment before?

2. Where did Sacks's accident occur?

3. How long had Sacks been traveling when he came to the swollen stream?

4. What was the date when Sacks climbed the mountain?

5. How did Sacks splint his leg?

(see the answer keys)

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