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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. What is one of the most negative words that Alice uses to describe a person?
(a) Passive.
(b) Ugly.
(c) Stupid.
(d) Aggressive.

2. According to Calvin, his father is appalled by what kind of people?
(a) People who can't even afford sending their children to college spending money on fur coats.
(b) People who can't even afford a cleaning woman living in a house that has to be rented most summers to pay the taxes.
(c) People who can't even afford groceries spending money on a cleaning woman.
(d) People who can't even afford rent traveling to Italy.

3. What is the name of Alice's friend and colleague who has ovarian cancer?
(a) Maggie Smith.
(b) Mina Shaughnessy.
(c) Annie Navasky.
(d) Jane Maher.

4. How old are Alice's daughters when she has her first surgery following her cancer diagnosis?
(a) Four and seven.
(b) Fourteen and eighteen.
(c) Thirty-five and thirty-eight.
(d) Twelve and nine.

5. According to Calvin, Alice has especially strong views about which of the following subjects?
(a) The environment.
(b) Foreign oil.
(c) Cigarettes.
(d) Animal rights.

Short Answer Questions

1. In chapter five, an article on what subject in the Times enraged Alice?

2. According to Calvin, which one of the following qualities does NOT characterize his wife Alice?

3. Where does Alice once work?

4. Where does Calvin and Alice have a summer home?

5. Trillin states that his goddaughter marries into a family with some involvement in what kind of industry?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the SEEK program? Why is it important to Alice?

2. In chapter five, following Alice's bypass operation, what warning does Alice's surgeon give Calvin Trillin?

3. In what ways are Calvin Trillin and Alice lucky?

4. What reasons does Mina Shaughnessy give to justify her choice of clothing?

5. Describe what Alice means when she says that someone "doesn't have a nice life."

6. Alice believes that all people are capable of learning and can be taught new things, regardless of their background, provided they have the desire. Do you agree? Why or why not?

7. What is Alice's attitude toward spending money?

8. According to Calvin Trillin, what makes a person an intellectual?

9. What is the one thing that Alice forbids her teenage daughters from doing?

10. In chapter six, explain Calvin Trillin's theory about the person who makes out the mortgage check in a marriage.

(see the answer keys)

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