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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does the narrator know will happen each day he spends with his lover?
(a) They will have an argument.
(b) She will stop talking to him.
(c) They will end up in bed together.
(d) They will have a fancy dinner.

2. What question does the narrator recall his lover asking him while they were in bed one day?
(a) She asked if he thought she was fat.
(b) She asked if he thought she was pretty or no.
(c) She asked if he thought she should dye her hair.
(d) She asked if he thought she was dumb.

3. What is the narrator trying to do at the start of the story?
(a) Break down the cost of an affair.
(b) Write his grocery list.
(c) Negotiate a better salary.
(d) Do his annual household budget.

4. As time passes, the narrator says thoughts of his lover are more in his ______ than his ______?
(a) Imagination, soul.
(b) Mind, body.
(c) Dreams, reality.
(d) Heart, head.

5. The narrator describes that after the affair ends, his lover is still inside him like what?
(a) Decadent dessert.
(b) Dark chocolate.
(c) Warm soup.
(d) Sweet liquor.

6. What does the narrator say he kept dreaming about while with his lover?
(a) His lover.
(b) A doctor's office.
(c) A building.
(d) A car.

7. Who is the author of "Break It Down"?
(a) Danielle Lyons.
(b) Lynn Donahue.
(c) Lydia Davis.
(d) Leslie Daniels.

8. What else did the narrator see in his dreams beyond the dark frame of empty space?
(a) A house.
(b) A bed.
(c) A garden.
(d) A child.

9. What "old" (22) thing does the narrator say he cannot look at without still feeling what he feels his lover?
(a) Tree or rosebush.
(b) Restaurant or bookstore.
(c) Car or pair of pants.
(d) Street or painting.

10. How is the narrator's lover's behavior described at the start of the story?
(a) She was loud and obnoxious.
(b) She was often quiet and distant.
(c) She was moody and mercurial.
(d) She was always smiling and singing.

11. What color are the narrator's lover's eyes?
(a) Green.
(b) Brown.
(c) Hazel.
(d) Blue.

12. How would the narrator feel when he closed his eyes and began to dream?
(a) Peaceful.
(b) Frightened.
(c) Depressed.
(d) Anxious.

13. What was the narrator unsure he would be able to do without his lover?
(a) Save any money.
(b) Get a good job.
(c) Go on living.
(d) Go on more vacations.

14. What is the "very clean white place" (24) the narrator recalls being with his lover?
(a) A spa.
(b) Their hotel room.
(c) A bar.
(d) A coffee house.

15. What were the narrator and his lover doing in the "very clean white place" (24) he recalls?
(a) Drinking martinis.
(b) Getting massages.
(c) Making love.
(d) Having breakfast.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the narrator say he becomes afraid of as distance grows between the time spent with his lover and the present?

2. How often did the narrator and his lover make love during their time together?

3. What "keeps happening" (21) between the narrator and his lover while they are together all day, which he says "adds up" (21)?

4. How much was the plane ticket the narrator bought?

5. Why does the narrator decide against kissing his lover's eyelids as he watches her sleep?

(see the answer keys)

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