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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Thinking he hears gunfire one night at the hospital, Arn awakes with a start and reaches for his gun. What is actually making the sound that he mistakes for gunfire?
(a) Chickens in the yard.
(b) Rain on the roof.
(c) Kids whispering across the room.
(d) Starlings in the tree.

2. What simile does Arn use to describe his sister's appearance when he sees her?
(a) Like a tiny old woman.
(b) Like an overworked horse.
(c) Like a whisper of air.
(d) Like a tired mother.

3. What is Koong's function within Sombo's group?
(a) He catches rats, insects, frogs and snakes to feed the group when their rice runs out.
(b) He goes ahead of the group in order to look for Vietnamese soldiers.
(c) He sings old Cambodian love songs to the group each night.
(d) He checks the ground for land mines as the group follows behind him.

4. What happens to cause Arn to say that now "even the earth is our enemy" (126)?
(a) The vegetables they plant won't grow.
(b) Vietnamese soldiers leap out of a ditch to attack their group.
(c) Their rice girl steps on a land mine and loses her leg.
(d) When they bury their dead, the earth expels their bloated bodies.

5. Using the method of time measurement that Arn and the other captives must use, eight harvests means he's been held captive for how long?
(a) 1 1/2 years.
(b) 5 years.
(c) 2 1/2 years.
(d) 3 years.

6. What is the name of the only other boy at the Children's Center who was formerly a child soldier besides Arn?
(a) Ravi.
(b) Sojeat.
(c) Koong.
(d) Runty.

7. Arn knows there are wild animals in the jungle that may eat him, so he climbs a tree to sleep. What animal does he suspect has spent the night under his tree when he sees the grass lying down?
(a) A leopard.
(b) A rhinoceros.
(c) A hippopotamus.
(d) A tiger.

8. What happens the first time Arn shoots his gun?
(a) He accidentally shoots Kha, but it is only a superficial wound.
(b) He has a violent flashback of the boy in his village being hit with the butt of a rifle and killed.
(c) He shoots a Vietnamese soldier hiding among the trees.
(d) He is knocked off his feet by the force of the shot.

9. When Mr. Pond gives Arn new clothes, Arn gives his old clothes to Mr. Pond. Mr. Pond then breaks down in tears. Why does he cry?
(a) Because the clothes are the black uniform Mr. Pond knows is worn by the Khmer Rouge.
(b) Because the clothes are stiff with blood and dirt and the smell of death.
(c) Because the clothes are full of holes.
(d) Because the clothes are three sizes too small for Arn.

10. When Arn, Kha, and Siv are allowed to go in the pond to wash, they try to sink to the bottom, partly in order to escape the world above the water. Why can they not sink very far down for very long?
(a) Because their stomachs are empty.
(b) Because there are poisonous snakes that lurk at the bottom of the pond.
(c) Because they might get disoriented and drown.
(d) Because the soldiers won't let them.

11. The American man whom Arn at first calls Jesus Monk, later finding out his name is Mr. Pond, takes pity on Arn and gives him medicine to cure what ailment?
(a) Yellow Fever.
(b) Worms.
(c) Dysentery.
(d) Malaria.

12. When the radio makes clear that the Vietnamese soldiers really are coming, chaos erupts and many children run away in the melee. Sombo asks Arn why he doesn't run away to find his family. Why does Arn not run away?
(a) He realizes that he has no idea why he does not run away; the thought has just never occurred to him.
(b) He now feels so far removed from his biological family that his friends seem much more important to stay close to in this world.
(c) He is afraid the soldiers in the next camp will kill his little sister Sophea if he runs away.
(d) He is afraid that the Khmer Rouge will recognize him due to his fame and shoot him for the traitor they will consider him to be.

13. What is the news being reported on the radio when Sombo quickly turns it off to prevent Arn from hearing?
(a) The rice fields in Cambodia are full of the joyful voices of peasants working in the fields.
(b) Everyone in Cambodia is fleeing to Thailand to escape the Khmer Rouge.
(c) The Khmer Rouge have taken over every major city and every small village in Cambodia.
(d) Vietnamese soldiers are coming across the border to take over Cambodia by fighting the Khmer Rouge.

14. When the Vietnamese soldiers kill everyone in the village by drawing them out with offers of free rice, why does Arn look at each dead person's face as he walks through the village?
(a) He doesn't know why he wants to look at their faces, but he does.
(b) He wants to see what expressions they had on their faces when they died.
(c) He wants to count how many males they killed versus how many males they killed.
(d) He is looking for any member of his family.

15. After Arns separates from the other boys, he wants to get to Thailand. What is the only landmark he knows about that will signal him he's about to get to Thailand?
(a) He knows he will have to cross a series of three bridges.
(b) He knows he will have to cross a river.
(c) He knows he will have to wade through a swamp.
(d) He knows he will have to climb the tallest mountain of three peaks on the horizon.

Short Answer Questions

1. Arn says there are many things to be afraid of at night, and now he has one more thing to be afraid of after they have shot everyone in the village below. What is that thing?

2. Mr. Pond's question to Arn about which two boys are his favorite elicits a response naming Sojeat and Ravi, even though Arn admits to the reader that his actual favorite boy is Runty. Why does he not list Runty among the names he tells Mr. Pond?

3. Arn hears a voice coming through a bullhorn, telling the refugees that it's okay to come out and he waits for what he thinks is a trick to end in gunfire and moaning. Instead, he hears a different sound. What is it?

4. What sets Arn apart from the rest of the group and causes his fame to grow by the day?

5. Just before the radio's batteries die, what do they hear the voice of Angka saying in the news report?

(see the answer keys)

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