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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In "If I Should Come Upon Your House Lonely in the West Texas Desert," to whom does the speaker allude when she says "Each steaming bowl will be, Just right" (81)?
(a) Goldilocks.
(b) Snow White.
(c) Little Red Riding Hood.
(d) The Frog Prince.

2. Who is the Jacques Derrida mentioned in "The First Water Is the Body"?
(a) A Louisiana politician.
(b) An Algerian artist.
(c) A French-Canadian poet.
(d) A French philosopher.

3. In "How the Milky Way Was Made," how many dams does the speaker say "shatter" the Colorado (61)?
(a) 15.
(b) 18.
(c) 11.
(d) 3.

4. In "Ode to the Beloved's Hips," what is a "traje de luces"?
(a) The traditional clothing worn by Spanish bullfighters.
(b) The white robes worn by Catholic bishops.
(c) The many-colored coat worn by Joseph in the Bible.
(d) The flashy costumes worn by Mexican luchadores.

5. In "Snake-Light," the speaker mentions "caliche" (82). What is caliche?
(a) A sedimentary rock.
(b) A kind of ravine or gully.
(c) A desert insect.
(d) A bone in a snake's tail.

6. In "I, Minotaur," what does the speaker call "lilac-lit pools of ablution" (57)?
(a) The desert flowers.
(b) The light that she and her lover find together.
(c) The beloved's thighs.
(d) Her self-inflicted wounds.

7. In "The First Water Is the Body," what word does the speaker borrow from John Berger?
(a) "Channeled."
(b) "Submerge."
(c) "Juxtaposition."
(d) "Pre-verbal."

8. In "My Brother, My Wound," to what does the speaker's brother compare her wound?
(a) A rose garden.
(b) Jesus's wounds.
(c) Holes in the desert.
(d) Open mouths.

9. In "If I Should Come Upon Your House Lonely in the West Texas Desert," what does the speaker say her "lasso" is made of?
(a) Light.
(b) Water.
(c) Desire.
(d) Breath.

10. In "It Was the Animals," what has the speaker's brother actually found?
(a) A piece of driftwood.
(b) A plank from a rowboat.
(c) A piece of a picture frame.
(d) The wooden handle of a hatchet.

11. In "Isn't the Air Also a Body, Moving?" what is personified as a woman?
(a) The train.
(b) The hawk.
(c) The air.
(d) The dust.

12. In "Ode to the Beloved's Hips," what war is alluded to?
(a) The Peloponnesian War.
(b) The Texas-Indian Wars.
(c) The Trojan War.
(d) The Battle of Red Cliffs.

13. In "Top Ten Reasons Why Indians Are Good at Basketball," what nineteenth century America poet is mentioned?
(a) Emily Dickinson.
(b) Walt Whitman.
(c) Paul Laurence Dunbar.
(d) Louisa May Alcott.

14. In the context of "Ode to the Beloved's Hips," in the expression "madre mías," what is the most likely reason that mía is made plural?
(a) More than one mother is being discussed.
(b) To indicate more than one exclamation.
(c) The mother of someone named "Mia" is being discussed.
(d) This is how the acronym for "missing in action" is made plural in Spanish.

15. In "Cranes, Mafiosos, and a Polaroid Camera," how does the speaker's brother respond to her description of the cranes' dance?
(a) With anger.
(b) With awe.
(c) With apathy.
(d) With amusement.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "The Cure for Melancholy Is to Take the Horn," the speaker mentions an "alcazar." What is an alcazar?

2. From its context in "Top Ten Reasons Why Indians Are Good at Basketball," what can be assumed about the Hotchkiss and Springfield Model 1873?

3. In "The First Water Is the Body," what protest does the speaker mention?

4. In "My Brother, My Wound," what does the speaker's brother say the word "canaries" really means?

5. In "exhibits from The American Water Museum," whose admission price is "the kidneys" (64)?

(see the answer keys)

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