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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What commonality does Santiago observe in deep water fish when they pick up speed?
(a) They all look green in the water.
(b) They are always hungry.
(c) They have purple stripes or spots.
(d) They turn yellow when they are angry or frightened.

2. What does Santiago promise that he cannot do right at the moment?
(a) Get himself a larger boat.
(b) Go to church every morning.
(c) Say a hundred Our Fathers and a hundred Hail Marys.
(d) Always bring the boy with him.

3. What happens by midnight as Santiago returns to the land?
(a) He is able to fight off the sharks in the dark.
(b) The sharks come in a pack to get the rest of the marlin.
(c) The sharks leave as he gets near the city.
(d) His hands are well enough to use both of them with the club.

4. How does Santiago imagine Joe DiMaggio would be able to do what he is doing with the marlin?
(a) He would get too tired because baseball games do not last for days.
(b) Not so well except at clubbing the big fish to death.
(c) Better, because his is young and strong and his father was a fisherman.
(d) He couldn't do it at all because of his bone spur.

5. Santiago hates these sharks because they were something more than killers like the Mako shark. What is that?
(a) Ugly.
(b) Stupid.
(c) Man eaters.
(d) Scavengers.

6. What had become a habit for the boy during the old man's absence?
(a) Arguing with the fishermen who made fun of Santiago.
(b) Waking up late so he did not have to go fishing.
(c) Stopping by Santiago's shack every morning.
(d) Saving newspapers for Santiago to read.

7. What last weapon does Santiago use against the sharks?
(a) The tiller.
(b) His fists.
(c) A broken bottle.
(d) The mast.

8. Who does the boy fear will defeat the Yankees?
(a) The Cleveland Indians.
(b) The Red Sox.
(c) The Baltimore Orioles.
(d) The White Sox.

9. What does the tourist woman think she is seeing as she looks at the fish skeleton?
(a) Evidence of a feast the night before.
(b) What is left of a shark.
(c) A biology experiment.
(d) A fish that died of starvation.

10. After killing the Mako shark, what does Santiago eat?
(a) Nothing. All his food is gone.
(b) A piece of the marlin where the shark had bitten it.
(c) More of the dried flying fish.
(d) The liver of the dead dolphin.

11. What evidence does the old man have of his long, hard fight with the marlin?
(a) His damaged hands and his painful back.
(b) The long wet line he has now pulled into the skiff.
(c) The look in the marlin's eye.
(d) The damage to his boat.

12. What makes the flying fish jump out of the water and scatter feverishly?
(a) A shark.
(b) Dolphins.
(c) The man-of-war bird circling overhead.
(d) The rising sun.

13. What happens to Santiago as he carries the mast up the hill?
(a) He has a heart attack and dies.
(b) He hears the boy calling his name.
(c) He falls and cannot get up.
(d) He gets tangled up in the sail.

14. What does Santiago think there are people who are paid to do?
(a) Build bigger boats than his.
(b) Write books about fishing.
(c) Understand the omens.
(d) Think about sin.

15. What are Santiago's last three weapons he can use against the sharks?
(a) The oars, the anchor, and some line.
(b) Two oars, the tiller, and a short club.
(c) The broken water bottle, the oars, and a club.
(d) A broken knife, some big fish hooks, and the oars.

Short Answer Questions

1. As the sun sets, what advantage does Santiago tell himself he has over the marlin?

2. What does Santiago mean when he says that he must think because that is all he has left?

3. After he finally gets to the shack and puts down the mast, what does Santiago find?

4. What kind of sharks came the second time?

5. What does Santiago imagine was the reason the fish finally jumped?

(see the answer keys)

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