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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What did Beck learn on Longs Peak?
(a) How to climb rocks.
(b) The meaning of perseverance.
(c) How to quit gracefully.
(d) How to conserve one's energy.

2. Where did Beck find a pipe wrench?
(a) On the pedestal that was supposed to hold Lenin's bust.
(b) In his garage.
(c) Hanging from a tree on Mount Fuji.
(d) Sitting on top of a flat boulder at the summit of Mount Fuji.

3. What did Beck say he blamed for his unhappiness?
(a) Peach.
(b) His inability to relax.
(c) His children.
(d) His job.

4. Where did Beck decide to attend college?
(a) Yale.
(b) Midwestern State.
(c) Mississippi State.
(d) Purdue.

5. What does Beck do when he slips back into a depression after his presidency ended?
(a) He began to hike.
(b) He began to rely upon Peach more.
(c) He began to take drugs for the depression.
(d) He began to play tennis again.

6. On what did Peach count on when she was thinking about divorce?
(a) Beck's generosity.
(b) Her children's support.
(c) Her friends' support.
(d) Her parents' support.

7. Why did Beck avoid sports in high school?
(a) He had to work after school.
(b) His size.
(c) His eyes.
(d) He was not very coordinated.

8. What was Peace thinking about while Beck was out climbing?
(a) Nothing in particular.
(b) Divorce.
(c) Her children missing their dad.
(d) Her career.

9. What happened to Beck as a freshman in college?
(a) He tried out for the crew team and did not make it.
(b) He slipped into a depression.
(c) He tried out for the tennis team and did not make it.
(d) He tried out for the lacrosse team and did not make it.

10. What subject did Beck's mother teach?
(a) Science.
(b) Art.
(c) English.
(d) Physical education.

11. Where did Beck spend his early years?
(a) Japan.
(b) Philippines.
(c) Korea.
(d) Germany.

12. How did Peach's father die?
(a) He died of old age.
(b) Radiation poisoning.
(c) His plane was shot down over Germany.
(d) He was lost on an expedition to the Arctic Circle.

13. What time does the narration flash back to in Chapter 11?
(a) Beck's childhood.
(b) When Beck is climbing in Iceland.
(c) Beck talking to his wife before leaving for Nepal.
(d) When Beck is climbing Mount Fuji.

14. What did Beck ask one man who was on the Aconcagua climb with Beck?
(a) If the man had ever climbed.
(b) If the man ever felt depressed while climbing.
(c) Why Mount Everest is so difficult.
(d) What it was like to climb Everest.

15. Why did Beck run out of food on his second major climb?
(a) They did not plan on needing so much food.
(b) They dropped a pack down a crevasse.
(c) Several of their meals got soaked and spoiled.
(d) He was stuck at base camp due to a storm.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where did Beck go hunting on a family vacation?

2. Where is Mount Aconcagua?

3. How did Beck choose the mountains he climbed?

4. Where is Mount Elbrus?

5. Between what two points of view does Chapter 13 switch?

(see the answer keys)

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