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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through The Great Indoors, Death Watch, In Praise of Diners, Shopping Madness, The Fat of the Land, Your New Computer, How to Rent a Car, The Wasteland, The Flying Nightmare and Enough Already.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How do 40,000 Americans die a year, according to Bryson?
(a) By falling under trains.
(b) By gunshot wounds.
(c) By contracting hepatitis.
(d) By accidents on construction sites.

2. What does Bill find to be a difficult adjustment for him when he returns to the U.S.?
(a) He left as a young man and came back middle-aged.
(b) He cannot find what he wants in the stores.
(c) He finds it very noisy.
(d) He has forgotten American English.

3. Bryson likes his privacy. Where does he especially find there is a lack of privacy in America?
(a) In telephone booths.
(b) In clothing store changing rooms.
(c) On airplanes.
(d) In public washrooms.

4. When Bill phones the computer hotline to ask for help, what information do they ask him for first?
(a) The computer's serial number.
(b) His date of birth.
(c) His Social Security number.
(d) His address.

5. What word associated with Christmas does Bryson wonder about at the beginning of "The Mysteries of Christmas"?
(a) Merry.
(b) Noel.
(c) Yule.
(d) A-wassailing.

Short Answer Questions

1. What disappeared in the north woods of New Hampshire in 1996 and was never found?

2. According to Bryson, what did people in the past do when they flew?

3. According to Bryson, when was the first official Thanksgiving held in the United States?

4. What animal got trapped in the Bryson house soon after the family moved in?

5. Although the GDP is seen as a positive in economic terms, how does Bill say it can be negative?

(see the answer key)

This section contains 307 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample