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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why didn't Rick take the job he wanted at the St. Petersburg Times?
(a) His new girlfriend asked him not to.
(b) An old friend wanted him to return to the Anniston Star.
(c) His momma got sick, so he had to go home.
(d) His brother was in trouble again, so he had to go home.

2. How old was Rick when he married?
(a) In his early thirties.
(b) In his early twenties.
(c) In his late twenties.
(d) In his mid-twenties.

3. Why did Rick think that he had to take the city reporter's job?
(a) His mother needed the money.
(b) He had a fancy car payment.
(c) He had to show up the editor that insulted him.
(d) He had a wife.

4. Why did momma move out of her new house?
(a) She missed the old house too much.
(b) The dog died at the new house.
(c) Sam and Mark had a fight on the front lawn.
(d) She was afraid there by herself.

5. What did Rick do at the old little house that momma did not?
(a) He spit on the ground.
(b) He cried when she leaves it.
(c) He walked it one more time.
(d) He rejoiced that they are gone from it forever.

6. Why do the soldiers of Haiti randomly shoot the poor?
(a) To teach others a lesson.
(b) Because the poor are beggars and thieves.
(c) Because the poor cause riots.
(d) To sell their bodies back to their families.

7. What did Rick say that men did instead of rioting?
(a) They played football.
(b) They listened to loud music.
(c) They danced.
(d) They watched dog fights.

8. What did Rick claim as the highlight of his stay in Tampa?
(a) A surfer named Topsy.
(b) A story about a chicken named Mopsy.
(c) A serial killer.
(d) The hurricanes.

9. What storm stopped Rick from leaving for his Fellowship on the day he was supposed to?
(a) Hurricane Andrew.
(b) Hurricane Katrina.
(c) Hurricane Charlie.
(d) Hurricane Francis.

10. What did Kovach tell Rick to answer the next time someone asks him where he learned how to write?
(a) Kovach.
(b) God.
(c) Rick.
(d) The South.

11. Why did Susan Smith kill her two boys?
(a) She thought the world is too cruel for them.
(b) To keep a relationship with a rich man.
(c) To keep them away from their father.
(d) She did not want to take care of them anymore.

12. What did Sam let Rick do when they finally went fishing?
(a) Bait the line.
(b) Cook the fish.
(c) Reel in the fish Sam caught.
(d) Tell momma Rick caught the fish.

13. In writing about sports, what did Rick come to realize were the only types of stories that he wanted to write?
(a) Death.
(b) Football.
(c) The ones in which people struggle.
(d) Car racing.

14. What did Rick's wife tell him that scared him out of the marriage?
(a) She did not want him traveling for his stories.
(b) She thought she was pregnant.
(c) He only cared about his work.
(d) He worked too late.

15. Why was Rick so nervous about his Fellowship interview?
(a) He wanted it more than anything he had ever wanted.
(b) His friends told him he was not cut out for it.
(c) His editor told him he was a shoe in.
(d) It was a test to him to see if he belonged in educated society.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why did Rick lose his job at the Birmingham paper?

2. What kind of questions did Rick often find himself answering to the students at Harvard?

3. What was different about Thanksgiving in the new house?

4. What did Sam ask from Rick in return for his staying behind in Alabama and Rick going out into the world?

5. What did the young South Carolina woman say happened to her two boys?

(see the answer keys)

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