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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 Alice's Law of Compensatory Cash Flow?
(a) A tax theory.
(b) After a certain level of income, the government should take everything.
(c) Any money not spent on a luxury you can't afford is the equivalent of windfall income.
(d) Things like perfume, clothing, and jewelry should be purchased with money from her own paychecks.

2. Where does Calvin and Alice purchase their first home?
(a) Nova Scotia.
(b) Long Island.
(c) New Jersey.
(d) New York City.

3. What is Alice's phrase for living in surroundings that are less than nice?
(a) Living in a tree house.
(b) Living in squalor.
(c) Living like a graduate student.
(d) A living nightmare.

4. Which of the following best describes "Of Dragons and Garden Peas"?
(a) A New England Journal of Medicine piece written by Alice.
(b) A children's book that Alice reads to her daughters.
(c) A New Yorker piece written by Calvin Trillin.
(d) A film that Alice produces for PBS.

5. Of the following, which one is an accurate statement of Calvin's views?
(a) Alice is not as educated as her husband.
(b) Alice is unable to provide constructive criticism.
(c) Alice is better educated than her husband.
(d) Alice is better at reading than writing.

Short Answer Questions

1. In chapter four, an encounter is described taking place in an elevator between Alice and a young boy with cancer. What does he say about her type of cancer?

2. In chapter six, what does a carpenter named Frank tell Alice during her home renovation project?

3. What is the name of the camp where Alice volunteers to work with seriously ill children?

4. What is the Alice Tax?

5. What is the name of the book that Alice writes based on a letter she writes?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Describe the Trillins' trip to Japan. What does their disagreement say about their marriage?

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

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

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

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. Explain the Alice Tax.

9. Compare Calvin Trillin's father to Alice's.

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

(see the answer keys)

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