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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is Alice's reasoning for agreeing to be photographed in a fashion issue of a magazine?
(a) Alice thinks it helps her husband receive better reviews of his work by critics.
(b) Alice thinks it is a good way to make money.
(c) Alice thinks it helps her parents receive better treatment by the nurses at the nursing home where they live.
(d) Alice thinks it helps her launch a modeling career.

2. Calvin claims that the first time he sees Alice, he detects what quality about her heritage?
(a) Alice is Swedish.
(b) Alice is Irish.
(c) Alice is European.
(d) Alice is Jewish.

3. In chapter three, Calvin includes an excerpt from an article that Alice writes about her parents. Which of the following statements summarizes the point makes in the excerpt?
(a) Alice takes care of her mother.
(b) Alice leans on her mother.
(c) Alice's mother does not accept the help of others.
(d) Alice looks to her mother for advice on how to be a better parent.

4. In what month and year does Calvin first meet Alice?
(a) December 1963.
(b) April 1965.
(c) December 1976.
(d) August 1990.

5. What is the theme of the poem at the introduction of chapter three?
(a) Alice's 50th birthday.
(b) Alice's 61st birthday.
(c) Alice's views on taxation.
(d) Alice's intellectualism.

6. What is Alice's mother doing for a living when she meets Alice's father?
(a) Alice's mother is a teacher.
(b) Alice's mother is a novelist.
(c) Alice's mother is a model.
(d) Alice's mother is a secretary.

7. When does Calvin read the obituary of Dick Francis' wife?
(a) The year before Alice's bypass surgery.
(b) A year after Alice dies.
(c) The year Alice is diagnosed with lung cancer.
(d) A year before Alice dies.

8. What is the name of the magazine that hosts the party where Calvin first meets Alice?
(a) Monocle.
(b) Life.
(c) Times Magazine.
(d) The New Yorker.

9. In chapter three, what is the name of the publication in which Alice is featured in a fashion spread?
(a) Times Magazine.
(b) Monocle.
(c) The New Yorker.
(d) Time.

10. According to Calvin, why does Alice take out bank loans in her twenties?
(a) Alice takes out bank loans to finance her work with disadvantaged students.
(b) Alice takes out bank loans to pay for her cancer treatment.
(c) Alice takes out bank loans to invest in her father's vending machine invention.
(d) Alice takes out bank loans to tide her father over when he is low on money.

11. According to Calvin, he never stops trying to do what?
(a) Come out of his shell.
(b) Gain Alice's trust.
(c) Impress Alice.
(d) Remember what Alice is wearing the night he meets her.

12. What does Alice's father do for a living?
(a) Alice's father is a coal miner.
(b) Alice's father is a vending machine repairman.
(c) Alice's father is a self-taught inventor.
(d) Alice's father is a researcher.

13. How old is Alice when she is asked to be photographed by Doug Kirkland and model spring fashions in a magazine?
(a) Nineteen.
(b) Thirty-five.
(c) Twenty-two.
(d) Fifty.

14. In chapter two, how does Calvin characterize his behavior during his second meeting with Alice?
(a) A rough draft in need of edits.
(b) A boring college lecture.
(c) A desperate comedy routine.
(d) A winning job interview.

15. In the days when he is renovating his home, Trillin has this quote above his typewriter.
(a) "Words Is Money."
(b) "Money doesn't grow on trees."
(c) "Time is money."
(d) "Writing doesn't pay."

Short Answer Questions

1. In chapter two, what fact about Dick Francis and his wife does Calvin share with the reader?

2. At the end of chapter three, Calvin describes an event in Alice's life that takes her by surprise. What happens?

3. What is the first book that Calvin writes after he meets Alice?

4. In chapter one, Calvin includes an excerpt from a letter that Alice writes to a woman who is victimized. What Shakespeare play does she reference in her letter?

5. How does Calvin portray his wife Alice in books and magazine articles written before she dies?

(see the answer keys)

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