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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What junk food did Balakian reminisce about eating at the Dillstein's house?
(a) Devil Dogs.
(b) Mallomars.
(c) Hostess Cupcakes.
(d) Ding-Dongs.

2. Who was Balakian's first anti-hero?
(a) James Dean.
(b) Benjamin Braddock.
(c) Holden Caulfield.
(d) Marlon Brando.

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

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

5. In what year did Balakian's father save the man having the heart attack at a Columbia game?
(a) 1960.
(b) 1956.
(c) 1955.
(d) 1958.

6. Why did Balakian not like the works of Anais Nin, who was friends with his aunt?
(a) He found her works self-indulgent.
(b) He found her works too ironic.
(c) He found her works too realistic.
(d) He found her works too difficult to understand.

7. What kind of trees do the silkworms come from?
(a) Mulberries.
(b) Willows.
(c) Oaks.
(d) Maples.

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

9. Whose voice did Balakian describe as hitting him "as broken glass under a tire"?
(a) Roy Orbison.
(b) Jackie Wilson.
(c) Bob Dylan.
(d) Elvis Presley.

10. What does odar mean?
(a) Infidel.
(b) Non-believer.
(c) Turk.
(d) Other.

11. Where were Balakian and his father when the young woman spoke to the father about leaving her abusive husband?
(a) Idaho.
(b) Oregon.
(c) Washington.
(d) California.

12. Where did Franklin Delano Roosevelt attend prep school?
(a) Andover.
(b) Groton.
(c) Exeter.
(d) Lawrenceville.

13. What does the name Arax mean?
(a) Prosperity.
(b) Turbulence.
(c) Current.
(d) Peace.

14. What food did Balakian's mother bring when she visited during the talk by Allen Ginsberg?
(a) Kebabs.
(b) Stuffed grape leaves.
(c) Lasagne.
(d) Baklava.

15. What was the nickname of Arkayutiun, the soup Balakian ate while sick?
(a) Soup of Heaven.
(b) Soup of Life.
(c) Soup of the Soul.
(d) Soup of Love.

Short Answer Questions

1. In grandmother's dream about her friend Nevart (described in "The Woman in Blue"), what was Nevart drinking?

2. What is lokma?

3. What popular song was played at Lenny Cohen's bar mitzvah?

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

5. According to Armenian legend, what animal was Adam's first companion in the Garden of Eden?

(see the answer keys)

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