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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What do the Khmer Rouge soldiers lack that makes the soldiers associated with the Prince doubt their power?
(a) Grenades.
(b) Boots.
(c) Homogeneous uniforms.
(d) Guns.

2. What event causes Arn to sneak out and plead with the new music teacher to start exerting effort in his teaching?
(a) A Khmer Rouge guard asks Arn how the band is progressing and whether the new music teacher has a good or a bad character.
(b) Arn realizes that though he can play and teach all of the instruments to the other children, he wants a father figure to be their leader.
(c) Arn has taken a genuine interest in the musical arts and wants to do anything he can to fuel his new passion.
(d) Arn knows that the new music teacher is a friend of his mother's and so he wants to preserve the teacher's life.

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

4. What is the event that first causes Arn to think maybe the Khmer Rouge have evil intentions?
(a) Hi sister tells him that all of the girls in the village are being rounded up by the soldiers in order to force the girls to cut their hair short.
(b) He sees a soldier speaking roughly to a monk at his temple school.
(c) He sees a soldier kill a boy when the boy refuses his request for a motorcycle ride.
(d) A soldier sees Arn selling his wares on the street and tips over his cart for no apparent reason.

5. 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 aunt has died of starvation.
(b) He tells Arn that his sister Jorami has escaped with another boy from their home village.
(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.

6. What dance do Arn and Munny perform for the crowd outside the theater?
(a) The Twist.
(b) The Swim.
(c) The Watusi.
(d) The Pony.

7. Why does the kitchen girl give Arn extra food?
(a) Because she says he looks too skinny.
(b) Because he has become famous from playing his kihm and she admires him.
(c) Because she is a member of the Khmer Rouge and realizes that he needs strength in order to do his job and play music well.
(d) Because he threatens to hurt her if she does not.

8. What sport do the rich kids play in the yard of their school in the first part of the book?
(a) Soccer.
(b) Volleyball.
(c) Basketball.
(d) Lacrosse.

9. When the Khmer Rouge soldiers take all of the captives' clothes and burn them, what clothing do they provide instead?
(a) Green uniforms.
(b) Red uniforms.
(c) Yellow uniforms.
(d) Black uniforms.

10. The first person Arn sees in over a year who is not wearing a black uniform is the new leader who arrives at the camp. How does Arn describe his appearance?
(a) He is wearing black shorts and a white shirt.
(b) He is wearing a business suit.
(c) He is wearing a linen caftan.
(d) He is wearing white shorts and no shirt.

11. What does the new music teacher give Arn as the reason that he does not care whether he lives or dies?
(a) His true passion is for the theater arts, so he is disappointed that he is being forced to teach music instead.
(b) His children are all dead and he does not know where his wife is.
(c) His passion for music has been twisted by the war into something ugly and he can no longer bear to teach it to others.
(d) He has had malaria for months and it has robbed him of his energy.

12. When Arn is told by a Khmer Rouge soldier that he has a new job in addition to his job as a musician in the band, what does that new job turn out to be?
(a) He has to take away the material belongings from the captives' tents and give them to the soldiers.
(b) He has to cook for all of the children in the camp.
(c) He has to push the dead and dying into the mass grave in the mango grove.
(d) He has to clean the area where the whole camp relieves themselves.

13. What does Arn do with the lump of sugar the kitchen girl gives him after she is done with him?
(a) He gobbles it down once he leaves her tent.
(b) He gives it to Kha.
(c) He throws it into the jungle.
(d) He sneaks into Mek's tent and shares it with him.

14. What method does Mek, the new music teacher, tell Arn that he uses to survive?
(a) He composes music.
(b) He dreams.
(c) He thinks about one hour at a time.
(d) He watches the birds fly.

15. What event causes Arn to wonder if he has become a monster just like the Khmer Rouge soldiers?
(a) He feels happiness at the sight of the boy who previously got him into trouble being beaten by a soldier for being lazy.
(b) He feels happiness at hearing that one soldier has been murdered for speaking roughly to another soldier.
(c) He feels happiness at hearing that his rich neighbors have all been killed for their elitist ways.
(d) He feels happiness at seeing Kha die, since now he is at least out of his misery.

Short Answer Questions

1. How old is Arn when the novel's narrative first begins?

2. After asking Sombo many times why he is permissive with Arn and overlooks his breaking of the rules, Sombo reveals the reason. What does he say is the reason?

3. Though the Khmer Rouge blame the bad rice harvest on the laziness of the workers, Arn knows it is actually due to what reason?

4. Why do Arn and his siblings live with their aunt?

5. Arn eventually discovers the real reason that the band is asked to play at several specific times each day. What is the reason?

(see the answer keys)

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