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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is special about the room at the inn by the lake?
(a) Its view.
(b) Its decor.
(c) Its library.
(d) Its price.

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

3. What word does the narrator say describes the appearance of "all creatures still unknown to us" (4)?
(a) "Innocent."
(b) "Drowsy."
(c) "Cryptic."
(d) "Formidable."

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

5. What does Ivanovich do to distract himself from "the absurdity and horror of the situation" (6)?
(a) Looks out the window at the scenery.
(b) Plays solitaire.
(c) Reads his book.
(d) Tries to fall asleep.

6. How long has Ivanovich been in love with a married woman?
(a) 3 years.
(b) 3 months.
(c) 7 months.
(d) 7 years.

7. What does the narrator say is "dangerous for the soul" (7)?
(a) "The anonymity of all the parts of a landscape."
(b) The "configuration of some entirely insignificant objects."
(c) The "charm the world acquires when it is wound up and moving like a merry-go-round."
(d) "A memory of love, disguised as a meadow."

8. Whom does the Bureau's song recommend should be "killed" by a walk in the countryside with "the good, the hearty guys" (9)?
(a) The hermit.
(b) The outsider.
(c) The loner.
(d) The artist.

9. What relationship does Vasili Ivanovich have to the story's narrator?
(a) He is the man who was once in love with the narrator's wife.
(b) He is a man whom the narrator met on a group tour.
(c) He is the narrator's former employee.
(d) He is the narrator's brother-in-law.

10. From context, what is the likely meaning of the word "dactyl" in "On the other side...towered, arising from dactyl to dactyl, an ancient black castle" (14)?
(a) A type of stone used in medieval constructions.
(b) An architectural figure of a bird.
(c) A tower in the shape of a digit, like a toe or finger.
(d) An image found in a metrical foot of poetry.

11. What does Ivanovich associate with happiness?
(a) His childhood.
(b) Work.
(c) His friends.
(d) Music.

12. What detail of Ivanovich's appearance seems to impress the narrator?
(a) His elegant clothing.
(b) His healthy complexion.
(c) His athletic physique.
(d) His neatly trimmed hair.

13. What "fancy-style" item does Ivanovich buy for his trip (3)?
(a) A flannel shirt.
(b) An enormous backpack.
(c) A pair of hiking boots.
(d) A walking stick.

14. At what time of the morning is Ivanovich supposed to report for the tour?
(a) 11 a.m.
(b) 5 a.m.
(c) 9 a.m.
(d) 7 a.m.

15. What technique is used in the phrase "Wispy clouds—greyhounds of heaven" (6)?
(a) Metaphor.
(b) Metonymy.
(c) Synechdoche.
(d) Allegory.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the narrator remember about the time of year in which the story takes place?

2. What does Ivanovich enjoy reading?

3. What technique is used in the phrase "toward a train lurking behind other trains"?

4. How does the text's language change when the group gets off the train at the last stop on the first day?

5. Which character is said to have "lustreless eyes and a vague velvety vileness" (6)?

(see the answer keys)

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