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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. 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 artist.
(b) The hermit.
(c) The loner.
(d) The outsider.

3. 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 the narrator's brother-in-law.
(c) He is the narrator's former employee.
(d) He is a man whom the narrator met on a group tour.

4. Where is Ivanovich told he will need to get a "certificate of non-absence from the city for the summertime" (3)?
(a) From the Bureau of Pleasantrips.
(b) From his physician.
(c) From his employer.
(d) From the police.

5. Who wrote the book that Ivanovich opens on the train?
(a) Tiutchev.
(b) Goethe.
(c) De Viau.
(d) Donne.

Short Answer Questions

1. When the narrator says that the road "undulated," what is being said of this road (12)?

2. Which of the following describes the group leader accurately?

3. What is the "unusual expression" of the lake's water (14)?

4. What is special about the room at the inn by the lake?

5. What is the job of the older man who talks to Ivanovich about Russia?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens when Ivanovich declares that he will stay at the lake instead of returning to Berlin?

2. Who is Schramm and what function does he serve on the trip?

3. On the second day of the tour, what is Ivanovich doing from early morning until early evening?

4. What does Ivanovich do as soon as he sits down in the train on the first morning of the trip, and what is the group's reaction?

5. What role does singing seem to play on the tour that Ivanovich is on?

6. Why is it such a relief to Ivanovich when the tour group finally stops for the night at an inn?

7. For what two reasons does Ivanovich sleep badly on the night before the trip begins?

8. What direct characterization of Ivanovich does the narrator offer?

9. Describe the leader of the group excursion.

10. On the third day of the tour, what does Ivanovich see that makes him feel the happiness he dreamed he might find on the trip?

(see the answer keys)

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