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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. To which American writer did Balakian send his poems while at Bucknell College?
(a) Jack Kerouac.
(b) Robert Pirsig.
(c) Lawrence Ferlinghetti.
(d) Allen Ginsberg.

2. What colors were the threads on the brocade of Mr. Blumenthal's yarmulke?
(a) Silver and gold.
(b) Silver and blue.
(c) Blue and gold.
(d) Blue and yellow.

3. What injury did Balakian sustain on the football field during August practice before his sophomore year?
(a) Pulled Achilles' heel.
(b) Heat exhaustion.
(c) Heatstroke.
(d) Torn knee ligament.

4. What book caused a racial flareup among the football players during Balakian's freshmen year at college?
(a) Eldridge Cleaver's Soul on Ice.
(b) The Autobiography of Malcolm X.
(c) Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man.
(d) W.E.B. DuBois' The Souls of Black Folk.

5. To what town was Balakian taking his girlfriend when he refused to return home for his grandmother's memorial service?
(a) Princeton.
(b) Boston.
(c) Cambridge.
(d) Amherst.

6. At what school did Aunt Anna teach French?
(a) CUNY.
(b) Columbia.
(c) Vassar.
(d) NYU.

7. Why was Balakian's father unable to serve during World War II?
(a) Poor hearing.
(b) A limp.
(c) Poor eyesight.
(d) High blood pressure.

8. What fruit does the spice mahleb come from?
(a) Plum.
(b) Pomegranate.
(c) Fig.
(d) Wild cherry.

9. Who was driving when the young men crashed the car in the middle of the night, in "Saturday Autumn II"?
(a) Peter Balakian.
(b) Tom Shadek.
(c) Bill Worth.
(d) Ed Harrison.

10. For what did Balakian win a trophy at the end of his first year at the private high school?
(a) Most likely to succeed.
(b) English student of the year.
(c) Most popular freshman.
(d) Freshman athlete of the year.

11. What kind of car did the Aroosian women drive during their house-viewing expeditions in 1958?
(a) A Cadillac.
(b) A Ford.
(c) A Chevrolet.
(d) An Oldsmobile.

12. How many miles away was Tenafly from Teaneck?
(a) Twelve.
(b) Fifteen.
(c) Ten.
(d) Five.

13. What is pakht?
(a) The force of fate.
(b) Dreams.
(c) The force of love.
(d) Love.

14. What popular song was played at Lenny Cohen's bar mitzvah?
(a) Heartbreak Hotel.
(b) I Want to Hold Your Hand.
(c) Mack the Knife.
(d) The Twist.

15. In what grade was Peter during the Cuban Missile Crisis?
(a) Eighth.
(b) Fifth.
(c) Fourth.
(d) Sixth.

Short Answer Questions

1. What was Balakian's temperature when he was delirious with the measles?

2. Where did Balakian and his father meet the Indian dressed as a chief during their cross-country tour?

3. How many Crusades passed through Byzantium on the way to the Holy Land?

4. In what year did Balakian and his father take a Greyhound bus across the United States?

5. Whom did Saroyan consider his "rival"?

(see the answer keys)

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