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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What job was Lisette doing when the narrator met her?

2. What ride does Lisette take the narrator on right before she leaves?

3. In the story "Land of Big Numbers," who is Zhu Feng's best friend?

4. What happens when the man upstairs from Xiaolei dies in the story "Shanghai Murmur"?

5. How does the person flying with Cao Cao feel when the plane is unable to get off the ground?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Xiaolei like her job at the flower shop?

2. Why does Xiaolei so desperately want to move to the city in "Shanghai Murmur"?

3. In "Land of Big Numbers," why is Zhu Feng jealous of Li?

4. Why does the narrator in "On the Street Where You Live" let Lisette treat him the way she does?

5. What is Cao Cao's relationship with his son like?

6. What does Cao Cao suspect about the party secretary in "Flying Machine"?

7. How does Anning feel when she and Cao Cao try his plane out with the town watching?

8. What does Xiaolei do to honor the man who dies in her building in "Shanghai Murmur"?

9. Why does Xiaolei become obsessed with the pen for years after losing it?

10. In "Flying Machine," how do Cao Cao's efforts to win over the local Communist Party work out?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Why - and how - does Gao's wife eventually find out that Gao had such strong reservations about returning to China to visit in the story "Field Notes on a Marriage?" Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 2

What are some of the unexpected benefits of the reactions of people to the qiguo fruit in the story "New Fruit" during its second season, when it elicits strong feelings of regret, sadness, and negativity in people eating it? What aspects of human nature do you think Chen is trying to illustrate with the characters' behaviors around the fruit in this story? Write an essay explaining your answers.

Essay Topic 3

In the story "Lulu," how does the narrator begin to feel about Lulu's increasingly aggressive activism? How does Chen develop the growing tension between Lulu and the narrator, and how does she communicate this tension to the reader? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

(see the answer keys)

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