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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 causes the few pedestrians around to hurry "dismally" past Bob (621)?
(a) Bob's obvious wealth.
(b) Bob is a suspicious-seeming person.
(c) The weather has gotten worse.
(d) It is almost time for the last businesses to close.

2. What is a logical inference based on the way the officer is twirling his baton?
(a) He is bored.
(b) He is in a good mood.
(c) He is trying to impress people.
(d) He is expecting trouble.

3. The narrator says, on page 619, that something has "well nigh depeopled the streets." In this context, what does the phrase "well nigh" mean?
(a) Completely.
(b) Come very close to.
(c) Slowly.
(d) Tried and failed to.

4. What causes the officer to suddenly slow down?
(a) The streetlight has gone out.
(b) He sees a wanted criminal.
(c) One of the businesses has an unlocked door.
(d) He sees Bob.

5. What effect does the officer tell Bob that time can have?
(a) It can give a man something new to be loyal to.
(b) It can make a person realize what is really important.
(c) It can change a good man into a bad man.
(d) It can gradually erase the feeling of friendship.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who is the author of "After Twenty Years"?

2. What can logically be inferred about Bob and Jimmy's friendship?

3. Bob's eyes are described as "keen" (620). What does this description of his eyes communicate about his character?

4. What is it reasonable to infer is the officer's motive in listening to Bob "with interest" (621)?

5. What is logical to infer about the officer asking about Bob's identity "doubtfully" (621)?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is ironic about the way that Bob describes his old friend to the "policeman" he encounters?

2. What is amusing about the plainclothes officer's answer to Bob's question about whether he is doing well in New York?

3. Why does Bob guess that Jimmy might not be as much of a success as Bob himself has become?

4. In the story's beginning, what evidence is there that Jimmy takes pride in his job?

5. What is the effect of the passage depicting Bob continuing to wait in the doorway as it begins to rain?

6. What is appropriate about the plainclothes officer greeting Bob with the line "It's Bob, sure as fate" (621)?

7. What surprises Bob about the appearance of the man that he thinks is his old friend, and how does the man explain away Bob's doubts?

8. What were the circumstances of the agreement Jimmy and Bob made 20 years ago?

9. What is the significance of the similarities and differences in the ways that Bob's and the plainclothes officer's faces are revealed?

10. Describe the story's opening moments, including its setting.

(see the answer keys)

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