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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is a steward?
(a) An innkeeper.
(b) A shop owner.
(c) Someone who takes care of someone else's property.
(d) Someone who rents the land that they farm or graze animals on.

2. How does Pahom's wife defend their life to her sister?
(a) She says that their life is quiet and ordinary.
(b) She says that their life is steady and safe.
(c) She says that someday Pahom will make them rich.
(d) She says that living in the countryside is more moral.

3. What reaction do the peasants have when they hear rumors about the sale of the land?
(a) They decide that they need to buy it themselves.
(b) They beg the woman not to sell her land.
(c) They go to court to try to add the land to the commune.
(d) They celebrate, because they do not like the landowner.

4. Whom does Pahom accuse of stripping his trees?
(a) His brother-in-law.
(b) Simon.
(c) The innkeeper.
(d) The head of the commune.

5. The story opens with two sisters. What does the older sister's husband do for a living?
(a) He is a farmer.
(b) He is a commune leader.
(c) He is an innkeeper.
(d) He is a tradesman.

6. Which character thinks "I'll give you land enough; and by means of that land I will get you into my power"?
(a) Simon.
(b) Pahom's brother-in-law.
(c) The local landowner.
(d) The devil.

7. What does the older sister brag about?
(a) Her housekeeping skill.
(b) Her loyal husband.
(c) Her comfortable life.
(d) Her clever children.

8. Why does Pahom end up taking his neighbors to court?
(a) The refuse to pay him the rent that they owe him.
(b) They steal his crops.
(c) Their animals trespass on his land.
(d) They disagree about the boundary of his land.

9. What does the expression "racked his brains" mean?
(a) Searched hard for an answer.
(b) Felt very sad.
(c) Organized his thoughts.
(d) Stared into space without thinking.

10. In which situation might someone "grease your palm"?
(a) If you were getting ready to do manual labor.
(b) If you were asking to have them predict your future.
(c) If you were judging a contest they were in.
(d) If you were trying to do something you had never done before.

11. What does Pahom's wife say may happen to a man in town?
(a) He may be tempted by the devil.
(b) He may become lazy.
(c) He may be the victim of crime.
(d) He may die of stress.

12. What does the stranger staying at Pahom's house overnight tell Pahom?
(a) The Bashkir are selling land very cheaply.
(b) That people in the new settlement beyond the Volga are making good money.
(c) Life in town is very risky.
(d) Life in the countryside is difficult but secure.

13. What agreement does Pahom come to with the landowner?
(a) He will pay for half of the land up front and half within two years.
(b) He will pay for the land over the next ten years, one-tenth at a time.
(c) He will pay less for the land because he can pay for it all in advance.
(d) He will work for her until the land is paid for.

14. What is Pahom's first reaction when he learns that people are moving to a new settlement?
(a) He tries to get their share of the commune lands.
(b) He thinks that maybe he can buy their land.
(c) He wants to sell his land and move.
(d) He worries that there will not be enough workers for his land.

15. How many acres does Pahom buy in his first land purchase?
(a) 13,000.
(b) 300.
(c) 40.
(d) 1,300.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who calls Pahom's land a "narrow hole"?

2. Who is the first person that the local landowner offers to sell her land to?

3. What problem does the new steward create for the local peasants?

4. Which character says that "Loss and gain are brothers twain"?

5. How many acres does the local landowner have?

(see the answer keys)

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