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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. During one vacation, Selam asks the narrator ___________________________.
(a) If she knows how to water ski.
(b) If hamburger is pork.
(c) If she wants to learn French.
(d) If she has ever kissed a boy.

2. The chief offers some crackers to Jubril on what condition?
(a) Jubril leaves him alone.
(b) Jubril runs an errand for him.
(c) Jubril takes them with his right hand.
(d) Jubril pays him.

3. What is the narrator looking for at Selam's apartment building?
(a) A light in the kitchen window.
(b) The pigeons roosting on the roof.
(c) Smoke from the fireplace.
(d) The blinds to open.

4. The narrator's parents no longer want her to play with whom?
(a) Selam.
(b) Farah.
(c) Yewa.
(d) Hadiya.

5. What place does the narrator have in her family?
(a) The youngest child.
(b) The oldest child.
(c) The middle child.
(d) An only child.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who tells this story?

2. What candy do the two friends like to eat?

3. One day, the narrator smells ________________ in the apartment.

4. How many. pages is this short story?

5. Emeka points out Jubril as being a ______________.

Short Essay Questions

1. What is at the base of all the trivial conflicts in the story?

2. Who is Jubril and why must he disguise his religious identity aboard a bus headed out of the city?i

3. What is the message of the story at the end?

4. Who are the narrator and Selam and what is their relationship?

5. Why are the passengers on the bus infused with a sense of urgency?

6. How do the policemen who take the sick man off the bus represent the corruption that exists in the country?

7. How do the narrator and Selam find a way to communicate with each other when they are not allowed to play together?

8. How had Jubril lost his right hand and why is it important for him to hide that fact while on the bus?

9. What is the narrator's father's advice to Selam regarding eating pork?

10. How is the story, "What Language is That"? different from the other stories in this book?

(see the answer keys)

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