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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What book does Karl's trunk contain?
(a) The Bible.
(b) A volume of Rilke's poems.
(c) A photo album from his childhood.
(d) Karl's journal.

2. What first prompted Delamarche to think of getting Karl to come work as Brunelda's servant?
(a) Robinson threatened to quit if he did not get some help.
(b) He found the photograph that he stole from Karl.
(c) The apartment was getting too dirty.
(d) Rennel suggested it and explained how to get Karl fired.

3. What feature of his mother's face does Karl focus on in the photograph of her and his father?
(a) Her furrowed brow.
(b) Her clenched fist.
(c) Her sharp eyes.
(d) Her forced smile.

4. What disappoints Karl about his new job?
(a) The only contact he has with the elevator's machinery is pushing a button.
(b) The manual explicitly forbids sleeping in the elevator during slow hours.
(c) He is assigned to an elevator that does not serve the hotel's richer clients.
(d) He cannot figure out how to polish the elevator brass as well as Rennel does.

5. What job did Therese perform so well that she caught the head cook's attention and was offered the job of secretary?
(a) Bargaining with vendors.
(b) Lighting candles.
(c) Arranging napkins.
(d) Taking inventory.

6. What is Karl eating at the end of Chapter V, "At the Occidental Hotel"?
(a) An apple.
(b) Cheese.
(c) Salami.
(d) A banana.

7. As he looks at the photograph of his parents, what decision does Karl reconsider?
(a) Taking a shared room at the inn.
(b) The visit to Pollunder's.
(c) Coming to America.
(d) Refusing to write home.

8. What gossip starts to go around the Occidental about Rennel?
(a) He is pilfering small items from guests' rooms.
(b) He is really the son of the hotel's owner.
(c) He is about to be promoted to the hotel waitstaff.
(d) He is engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a guest.

9. What is the primary focus of the text's description of the scenery that Karl and his companions first travel through during their walk?
(a) Vehicles in motion.
(b) Poverty and pollution.
(c) Angry, impatient people.
(d) Color, smells, and sound.

10. After whom is the fictional town of Ramses named?
(a) A Dutch pirate.
(b) A German prince.
(c) An Arabic mathematician.
(d) An Egyptian pharaoh.

11. How long is Karl away from his lift when he is taking Robinson to the dormitory?
(a) 11 minutes.
(b) 5 minutes.
(c) 2 minutes.
(d) 8 minutes.

12. How did one of Brunelda's former servants lose his front tooth?
(a) Delamarche punched him in the face.
(b) Brunelda's ex-husband shoved him into a wall.
(c) Brunelda threw a hot water bottle at him.
(d) He tripped over Brunelda's little dog.

13. When asked by the head cook, what age does Karl claim to be?
(a) 19.
(b) 17.
(c) 15.
(d) 21.

14. On the night that Robinson comes to the hotel, where is Rennel?
(a) With Delamarche.
(b) In a bar in Ramses.
(c) In the dormitory.
(d) Working at his lift.

15. When Karl first looks up at the balcony after he arrives, what does he notice about Delamarche?
(a) Delamarche is holding a red parasol.
(b) Delamarche is eating a large salami.
(c) Delamarche is fanning himself with a tiny fan.
(d) Delamarche is looking at him through opera glasses.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the cause of the crowd gathering in the street outside the apartment on the first night that Karl spends there?

2. Who is the woman that eventually helps Karl get something to eat?

3. What do Delamarche and Robinson both say their profession is?

4. What makes it so difficult for Karl to get a meal for himself and his companions at the Occidental Hotel?

5. What surprises Delamarche and Robinson about Karl's time in New York?

(see the answer keys)

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