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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. The Japanese cartoon Fatty and Skinny makes Sedaris sad because
(a) Skinny is unable to meet Fatty's demands, and ends up friendless.
(b) Fatty always rejects Skinny in the end.
(c) Fatty is unable to meet Skinny's demands and loses his friendship.
(d) Skinny always demands money from Fatty.

2. Ironically, the food at the restaurant is described as
(a) Dada-esque.
(b) Traditional American.
(c) Home cooking.
(d) American Gothic.

3. Why is Sedaris offered a job teaching a writing workshop?
(a) He is friends with the department chair.
(b) The scheduled professor quit at the last moment.
(c) He has been published several times.
(d) He has teaching experience.

4. Valencia is
(a) An exemplary boss for Sedaris.
(b) A starving artist who spends like she is wealthy.
(c) A woman who relies on her looks for everything.
(d) Wealthy, but lives like a starving artist.

5. In the end, Sedaris decides
(a) He will try to figure out the culprit when he returns to dinner.
(b) He can not do anything about the situation.
(c) He will tell the other guests the truth about his experience.
(d) He does not feel threatened by others' opinions of him.

6. Sedaris questions
(a) His own inability to leave the toilet unflushed, thereby assuming the guilt.
(b) His own need for cleanliness.
(c) Others inability to feel shame.
(d) His own inability to go to the bathroom comfortably in public

7. Miss Sampson believes Sedaris lisps because
(a) He cannot hear the sound of his own voice.
(b) He has a lazy tongue.
(c) He wants to stand out among other students.
(d) He never learned to speak correctly.

8. Sedaris enjoys Alisha's visits because
(a) She has her own opinions on New York.
(b) She never brings guests.
(c) She is willing to do whatever anyone else wants to do.
(d) She is independent and always goes out on her own.

9. Sedaris fears his father is not up to the task of caring for his new dog, Sophie, because
(a) He is not as attentive to pets as he used to be.
(b) He is older now, and she is young and strong.
(c) She is violent and does not obey him.
(d) He is older now, and she is old and dying.

10. The sign Sedaris would post on the Speech Therapist's door would read
(a) Janitor's Closet.
(b) Future Homosexuals of America.
(c) Speech Therapy Lab.
(d) Future Sports Enthusiasts of America.

11. Sedaris resents his father's approach toward art because
(a) It seems to come easily to his father, yet he does not invest in it.
(b) He wants to be like his father, but cannot be.
(c) He knows his father's talent has not passed on to him.
(d) Art eludes both him and his father, but his father is viewed as an artist.

12. Sedaris believed he was living art because
(a) He sold silk sceens of footprints.
(b) He was on drugs and deluded by his own sense of self-importance.
(c) He allowed a friend to shoot him in the shoulder.
(d) He was finally off drugs and moving past performance art.

13. Mr. Mancini claims to be
(a) A homosexual.
(b) A ladies man.
(c) A rock star.
(d) A frustrated artist.

14. Why is it difficult for Sedaris to travel with a typewriter?
(a) Security usually does not know what a typewriter is.
(b) Security finds the typewriter unusual enough to stop him regularly.
(c) The typewriter is heavy and cumbersome.
(d) Sedaris insults security, and this calls attention to him and his typewriter.

15. Lou Sedaris once dreamed that computers would
(a) Connect people to their jobs at all times.
(b) Connect people all over the world.
(c) Eliminate the need to leave his home.
(d) Eliminate the need for typewriters.

Short Answer Questions

1. The title The Youth In Asia applies to

2. What instrument does Sedaris' father choose for him?

3. Sedaris first compares his speech therapist to

4. Sedaris is not bothered by the possible ingredients in a hot dog because

5. While Sedaris has been preoccupied with tanning, his father has been preoccupied with

(see the answer keys)

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