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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. According to Calvin, which of the following best describes Alice at age fifty?
(a) Alice looks young for her age and still attracts men.
(b) Alice looks like a dietitian in sensible shoes.
(c) Alice looks older than she is, due to her illness.
(d) Alice looks just like her mother.

2. What disease does Alice's mother suffer from?
(a) Emphysema.
(b) Lung cancer.
(c) Alzheimer's.
(d) Ovarian cancer.

3. At the end of chapter three, Calvin describes an event in Alice's life that takes her by surprise. What happens?
(a) Alice is stopped for speeding by a police officer, and receives a ticket.
(b) Alice is not asked for her identification at a bar.
(c) Alice does not remember how to get home from the plant nursery.
(d) Alice is stopped for speeding by a police officer and does not receive a ticket.

4. What is the name of Calvin's youngest daughter?
(a) Abigail.
(b) Maggie.
(c) Sarah.
(d) Isabelle Alice.

5. 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?
(a) Macbeth.
(b) King Lear.
(c) Romeo and Juliet.
(d) Hamlet.

Short Answer Questions

1. Alice tells her husband that he peaks in which year?

2. According to Calvin, what kinds of men are attracted to Alice?

3. According to Calvin, he never stops trying to do what?

4. What is the name of the Calvin's eldest daughter?

5. In chapter one, what object does Alice wave in the air following Calvin's speech?

Short Essay Questions

1. In chapter three, Calvin Trillin explains that Alice's role as caretaker to her parents has a positive impact on her life. How?

2. Chapter three contains two humorous poems about Alice. What theme do they share?

3. In chapter two, Calvin Trillin draws a parallel in the relationship between the novelist Dick Francis and his late wife Mary and Trillin's own marriage to Alice. Explain.

4. In what ways do you think Alice serves as Calvin Trillin's muse? Include characteristics that inspire his writing.

5. In chapter one, Trillin reveals that although his readers become familiar with Alice as a sensible, somewhat serious character in his books and articles, they never really know her. Why?

6. What does Alice keep in her Important Things envelope? Why are the things inside it so important to her?

7. What event causes Alice to feel as though she loses her looks?

8. In chapter two, Calvin Trillin reveals that he never stops trying to impress his wife Alice. Give an example of this.

9. In chapter one, Calvin Trillin states that the stories he writes about his family can be compared what kinds of television shows?

10. In chapter three, why does Alice accept the request to be photographed in a fashion issue of a magazine?

(see the answer keys)

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