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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. When the trucks of Khmer Rouge soldiers first arrive, what does the radio tell the Cambodian people to do?
(a) To give the soldiers whatever they can and show that they support them.
(b) To run away as fast as they can and take nothing with them.
(c) To learn how to use guns so that they may join the throng of soldiers.
(d) To do nothing and say nothing when the soldiers speak to them.

2. When the new music teacher is too overcome by his own sadness to teach the children, Arn teaches them himself, instructing them to hit the strings lightly, like the wings of what bird?
(a) A swallow.
(b) A starling.
(c) A robin.
(d) A hummingbird.

3. What happens to the first guard to make Sombo come to replace him?
(a) He eats too much rotten food and contracts a blood disease.
(b) He falls asleep at his post one time and is never seen again.
(c) He goes on leave to get married.
(d) He runs away into the jungle.

4. When some new children arrive at the camp and one of them refuses to cut her hair, how is she punished?
(a) She is put inside a drum on the temple steps as they beat it and light a fire under it.
(b) She is wrapped in canvas and tossed high into the air for hours.
(c) She is required to sleep in the manure pile for three nights.
(d) She is denied any food besides grass for weeks.

5. When the high-ranking soldiers for whom the band played has taken their leave, what is NOT a rule put in place by the remaining Khmer Rouge soldiers?
(a) Now no one can hunt for their own food.
(b) Now the band has to play at nighttime meetings so that all of the kids can learn the words to the songs.
(c) Now no one is allowed to speak to the soldiers for any reason.
(d) Now no one is allowed to fall in love.

6. What are the two forms of compensation that the news bearer accepts in return for news about the captives' families?
(a) Sex and food.
(b) Lumps of sugar and figs.
(c) Musical performances and food.
(d) Feathers for his pillow and food.

7. How did Arn's father die?
(a) In the hospital while suffering from malaria.
(b) In a motorcycle accident.
(c) In a stage accident during an opera performance.
(d) In a battle near their village.

8. What reason does Arn give for not eating the human liver that the Khmer Rouge soldier forces him to cook?
(a) He does not eat it because he knows it came from a friend of his.
(b) He does not eat it because he wants to bring it back to the tent to give it to Kha instead.
(c) He does not eat it because he already has a belly full of rice and chicken that the kitchen girl had given him.
(d) He does not eat it because he thinks maybe the next time, another kitchen boy will be eating him instead.

9. What does Arn say that convinces the new music teacher to make more of an effort to teach the children?
(a) Arn tells him that soon the band will become famous across the country if he does.
(b) Arn tells him that the music is crucial to keeping up the morale of the field workers.
(c) Arn tells him that every child in the band will be killed if he does not.
(d) Arn tells him that he'll be killed if he does not.

10. When the Khmer Rouge evacuate all of the cities in order to force everyone into agricultural work, how many days do they tell the villagers they will be gone?
(a) 10 days.
(b) 14 days.
(c) 5 days.
(d) 3 days.

11. Though the Khmer Rouge blame the bad rice harvest on the laziness of the workers, Arn knows it is actually due to what reason?
(a) The monsoons have submerged the rice for too long and it has been unable to grow effectively.
(b) Substandard rice seed was used.
(c) Villagers have crept into camp in the night and have stolen rice.
(d) The soil has been planted too many times with no rest.

12. When a new letter carrier arrives to bring news to the camp, what news does he bring to Arn?
(a) He tells Arn that his sister Jorami has escaped with another boy from their home village.
(b) He tells Arn that his aunt has died of starvation.
(c) He tells Arn that his mother is alive and is living in a nearby camp.
(d) He tells Arn that his older sister Chantou has died of sickness.

13. In order to add to his fame even more and thus add to his probability of survival, Arn adds what talent to his repertoire in addition to his playing of the khim?
(a) Dancing.
(b) Playing the fiddle.
(c) Acting out theater scenes.
(d) Storytelling.

14. Sophea brings news that someone in Arn's family has died while calling out for him. Who is it?
(a) Their sister Jorami.
(b) Their brother Munny.
(c) Their mother.
(d) Their sister Mali.

15. What is the stringed instrument called that Arn learns to play in the band?
(a) Viola.
(b) Harpsichord.
(c) Dulcimer.
(d) Khim.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the new music teacher give Arn as the reason that he does not care whether he lives or dies?

2. Once Arn and his group is allowed to stop walking and they form a camp, what two groups do the Khmer Rouge soldiers separate the captives into?

3. When the Khmer Rouge soldiers take all of the captives' clothes and burn them, what clothing do they provide instead?

4. Who is in the picture that Arn hangs on his bedroom wall at the beginning of the novel?

5. While the captives subsist on tiny amounts of rice and garbage, what do the Khmer Rouge eat?

(see the answer keys)

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