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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which of the following describes the group leader accurately?
(a) He is badly sunburned.
(b) He has unusually long hair.
(c) He is missing one front tooth.
(d) He has eyes of two different colors.

2. What technique is used in the story's title?
(a) Non Sequitur.
(b) Asyndeton.
(c) Euphemism.
(d) Euphony.

3. What does the narrator remember about the time of year in which the story takes place?
(a) It was damp and cold.
(b) The leaves had begun to turn.
(c) It was an exceptionally hot summer.
(d) It was shortly after the last snow melted.

4. On page 19, to what does the narrator compare Ivanovich's return journey, away from the lake?
(a) A "cruel, demeaning prank."
(b) A "sinister game."
(c) A "soul-shattering nightmare."
(d) A "hideous fairy tale."

5. What does Ivanovich do when he first sees the view of the lake?
(a) Begins to weep.
(b) Gasps aloud.
(c) Falls to his knees.
(d) Presses his hand to his heart.

6. What is the "unusual expression" of the lake's water (14)?
(a) Ripples that seem to follow Ivanovich along the shore.
(b) An oddly red color.
(c) A cloud reflected in its center.
(d) Waves moving away from the shore instead of towards it.

7. What is the job of the older man who talks to Ivanovich about Russia?
(a) Post-office clerk.
(b) Produce distributor.
(c) Accountant.
(d) Paper manufacturer.

8. When the man tells stories about his "philanderings," what is he talking about (5)?
(a) Stamp collecting.
(b) Casual sexual relationships.
(c) Getting very drunk with friends.
(d) Donations to charity.

9. Who is the author of "Cloud, Castle, Lake"?
(a) Ivan Turgenev
(b) Anton Chekhov.
(c) Vladimir Nabokov.
(d) Leo Tolstoy.

10. What does the Bureau's song equate with solitude?
(a) Depression.
(b) Independence.
(c) Intellect.
(d) Criminality.

11. What is the tour group doing in the passage that says "they raised dust along a highway" (12)?
(a) Walking.
(b) Digging.
(c) Fighting.
(d) Riding in a car.

12. In the exclamation "How I hate you, our daily!" what technique is being used (13)?
(a) Dialect.
(b) Amplification.
(c) Allusion.
(d) Synesthesia.

13. What does Ivanovich think "must be oriented toward something or someone" (4)?
(a) "Things seen in a dream."
(b) "Creatures still unknown to us."
(c) "Some wonderful, tremulous happiness."
(d) "The really good life."

14. Which of the following best characterizes the narrator's attitude toward the absurd process that Ivanovich is told he must follow to sell back the tickets?
(a) Bemused.
(b) Scornful.
(c) Matter-of-fact.
(d) Skeptical.

15. One woman is described as "burlesque" (6). From the context, which is most likely true?
(a) She works as an exotic dancer in Berlin.
(b) She seems like an exaggerated caricature.
(c) She spends most of the trip making jokes.
(d) She is uncomfortably flirtatious.

Short Answer Questions

1. What instrument does one of the men insist on teaching Ivanovich to play?

2. The group leader wears "Tyrolese" clothing. What is true of his clothing?

3. Where is Ivanovich told he will need to get a "certificate of non-absence from the city for the summertime" (3)?

4. How long has Ivanovich been in love with a married woman?

5. Which detail of the group leader's appearance is associated with authoritarianism?

(see the answer keys)

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