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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What pictures is Ballard's passenger looking at when they arrive at the scene of his accident that killed Helen's husband?
(a) Pictures of car crashes.
(b) Pictures of famine victims.
(c) Pictures of naked women.
(d) Pictures of beauty products.

2. Why is Ballard skeptical about Helen working for the Road Research Laboratory?
(a) Because he thinks that she is not qualified to work there.
(b) Because he thinks she could get a better job as a doctor.
(c) Because he thinks the work at the laboratory is ineffective.
(d) Because he thinks its too close to the accident that killed her husband.

3. In the hospital, what contained the "hundred histories of collision and bereavement" according to Ballard?
(a) The empty beds.
(b) The covered gurneys.
(c) The full IV bags.
(d) The broken wheelchairs.

4. According to Ballard, Vaughan's relations with women were all governed by what?
(a) "Repressed desires."
(b) "Sexist ideas."
(c) "Obsessive games."
(d) "Violent fantasies."

5. What word does Ballard repeat several times in his description of the car crash at the beginning of the book?
(a) Stylized.
(b) Stoic.
(c) Static.
(d) Strange.

6. What verdict is given at the coroner's inquest of Ballard's crash with Helen and her husband?
(a) Negligent driving.
(b) Accidental death.
(c) Homocide.
(d) Manslaughter.

7. In the parking lot outside the hospital, Ballard says that his hostility towards Vaughan gave way to what?
(a) Deference, even subservience.
(b) Admiration, even envy.
(c) Passion, even love.
(d) Fear, even panic.

8. Where do Helen and Ballard's trysts take place?
(a) In Helen's apartment.
(b) At a hotel.
(c) Near the airport.
(d) In Ballard's car.

9. Why would Vaughan arrange women in stylized positions in cars?
(a) To photograph them.
(b) To write about them.
(c) To paint them.
(d) To film them.

10. What premonitions does Ballard begin to have after being released from the hospital?
(a) The end of the world by automobile.
(b) The salvation of sinners everywhere.
(c) The second coming of Jesus.
(d) The return to a pre-industrial age.

11. What do all the cars Ballard drives remind him of?
(a) The previous drivers and passengers.
(b) The current drivers and passengers.
(c) The dead drivers and passengers.
(d) The would-be drivers and passengers.

12. Who did Vaughan collide with two months earlier when he lurched from a concealed access road?
(a) Two mechanics.
(b) Two air hostesses.
(c) A filmmaker.
(d) A stunt driver.

13. Who does Ballard take to the stock-car races in the stadium at Northolt?
(a) Helen.
(b) His wife.
(c) Vaughan.
(d) Renata.

14. What kind of car does Catherine drive?
(a) A large sedan.
(b) A truck.
(c) A minivan.
(d) A sports car.

15. What kind of airline pilot removes the young wife from the crash with Ballard?
(a) Royal.
(b) Pacific.
(c) French.
(d) Arab.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does Ballard visit the Northolt police pound?

2. According to Ballard, "For Vaughan, the car-crash and his own ______ had made their final marriage."

3. Who does Ballard's wife Catherine tell him he looks like in the hospital?

4. Who tells Ballard that there is "a certain moral virtue in being materialistic"?

5. Where does Ballard take one of the three prostitutes to?

(see the answer keys)

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