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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Alan notice about Frank when Frank gets out of the car with Eda after they drop her off?
(a) Frank's hair is thinning.
(b) Frank is getting thick around his waist.
(c) Frank looks upset by what Eda is saying.
(d) Frank's tweed jacket has a price tag on it.

2. What is the narrator implying about Brenda's discussion of her children with the comment "The first act was over.... Now came the plot" (37)?
(a) Brenda is no longer interested in her children--they are part of a past she wants to leave behind.
(b) Brenda is not being honest about what great kids her daughters are.
(c) Brenda was just using the discussion of her children to introduce her real objective.
(d) Brenda has something she is afraid to tell Frank and is killing time by talking about her children.

3. What reason does Eda give for refusing to go to Florence with Frank and Alan?
(a) She does not know what she will tell her parents.
(b) She is not really interested in Frank.
(c) She is afraid to leave town with strangers.
(d) She has exams at school on Monday.

4. What is ironic about the setting around Frank when he calls Eda about going to Florence?
(a) He is sitting in a room with other children innocently playing cards while their mothers talk nearby.
(b) He is still at the same hotel where he had her in his room just the night before.
(c) Alan is nearby but has no idea that Frank plans to invite Eda along with them to Florence.
(d) The same porter that he had to bribe the night before is the one who placed the call.

5. As Alan rides through the countryside outside Venice and as he walks around Padua, what seems to impress him most about Italy?
(a) Its beauty.
(b) Its friendliness.
(c) Its age.
(d) Its foreignness.

6. How does Frank feel when he smells leaf smoke on the way to Florence?
(a) Nostalgic.
(b) Ashamed.
(c) Confused.
(d) Triumphant.

7. How does Frank strike up a conversation with Eda?
(a) He pretends to know her parents.
(b) He picks up her fallen school books.
(c) He asks her for directions.
(d) He offers her sweets.

8. What technique is used in the sentence, "On the curtained upper floors the legs of countesses uncoiled, slithering on the sheets like a serpent" (38)?
(a) Metonymy.
(b) Sibilance.
(c) Metaphor.
(d) Personification.

9. What is implied by the detail of the woman "dressed for dinner" getting out of a taxi in the morning outside Alan and Frank's hotel (39)?
(a) Italians are more relaxed about time.
(b) Alan's eyesight is poor.
(c) She has been out all night.
(d) Italy has different clothing standards.

10. Where is Eda when they first see her?
(a) Riding in her parents' car.
(b) Working at the hotel desk.
(c) Selling jewelry in the market.
(d) Coming through an arch near a church.

11. What does Frank offer Eda while they are in the car riding around Arezzo?
(a) Money.
(b) Alcohol.
(c) A cigarette.
(d) A fancy watch.

12. At what time of year are Frank and Alan in Venice?
(a) Late in the fall.
(b) Midsummer.
(c) The very beginning of fall.
(d) The very end of spring.

13. From context, which is a reasonable interpretation of the simile "They had separate rooms, like staterooms, like passengers on a fading boat" (36)?
(a) Europe is a snobby and elitist place.
(b) Brenda, Frank, and Alan are getting older.
(c) Brenda, Frank, and Alan no longer enjoy each other's company.
(d) Europe is a boring place to visit.

14. What is Eda's reaction to Frank's suggestion that she be "shared" between him and Alan?
(a) She asks Frank for money.
(b) She instantly refuses.
(c) She calls the police.
(d) She threatens to call her parents.

15. Why does Frank buy postcards in Arezzo?
(a) For Alan to send to his daughter.
(b) To send to Nan.
(c) To send to clients.
(d) To send to Brenda.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is Alan's life being compared to in the sentence, "It seemed that his life was being clarified, the sediment was drifting down" (39)?

2. When Frank tells Alan that he can drive Brenda to Rome himself, what does Brenda tell Frank?

3. After they drop Eda off, what does Alan say to Frank about the encounter?

4. Which detail conveys Frank's continued attractiveness to women despite his age?

5. What is implied has happened to Eda at the end of the story?

(see the answer keys)

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