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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Makina’s brother say when Makina asks about the land?
(a) He asks if she has gone to see it, as if to say: you know it is worthless.
(b) He tells her that he never got there, because he was robbed on the way.
(c) He says that when he got there, the construction was just starting.
(d) He tells her a long and complicated lie about how he lost it.

2. What does Makina not see in the city to tell her that it is a city?
(a) Shopping malls.
(b) Central plazas.
(c) Residential neighborhoods.
(d) Business districts.

3. Why does Makina not want to call the cops for help?
(a) Because they will know Mr. P and make trouble for her.
(b) Because her good fortune is measured by avoiding the cops.
(c) Because they will disappear her.
(d) Because they will deport her.

4. What did Makina’s brother eat until he recovered after discovering there was nothing at the land he had gone to see?
(a) Bread.
(b) Refuse.
(c) Soup.
(d) Avocados.

5. What did Makina’s brother’s first note home say?
(a) "I haven’t found the land yet, but I will."
(b) "Please send money, I am broke."
(c) "I am here on the land, waiting for you."
(d) "I have found the land, but it is nothing."

6. Where is Makina, in her dream, when she is evicted from the ATM booth?
(a) In a cave with her brother.
(b) In the eighth circle of hell.
(c) Back in her home.
(d) On top of the eighth hill.

7. How does Makina characterize new ways of saying things?
(a) As transformations of the old world.
(b) As new things themselves.
(c) As degradation of pure languages.
(d) As prophesies of a new world.

8. What does the narrator say is brimming in the immigrants’ language?
(a) Grief.
(b) Patience.
(c) Nostalgia.
(d) Powerlessness.

9. How does Makina’s brother indicate that he wants to leave to talk to her?
(a) He tells her let’s go outside.
(b) He points out the door and follows her.
(c) He takes her arm.
(d) He walks out and holds the door so she can follow.

10. What does Makina write on after a cop tells her to do something?
(a) The arrest warrant the cop gave her.
(b) The note she meant to take to her brother.
(c) Pages torn out of a poetry book.
(d) A scrap she caught in the wind.

11. What is the advantage of a polyglot language, in Makina’s eyes?
(a) It lives closer to the heart.
(b) It tells you new things.
(c) It belongs to the people, not the academics.
(d) It includes more people.

12. Where does Makina hear a voice she recognizes?
(a) On the bus.
(b) In a restaurant.
(c) In the abyss.
(d) In the marketplace.

13. What does Makina’s brother say his experience of war mostly consisted of?
(a) A lot of pointless drilling.
(b) Long weeks of technical training.
(c) Sustained periods of terror.
(d) Long periods of boredom.

14. What does Makina think she will do if she gets bad news at the army base?
(a) Hang herself from a lamp post.
(b) Sleep at the restaurant until she figures things out.
(c) Ask Mr. Aitch for help.
(d) Find a job.

15. What does Makina hear as soon as she leaves the army base?
(a) "Don’t leave me!"
(b) "Assume the position!"
(c) "You’re under arrest!"
(d) "Run!"

Short Answer Questions

1. What did the family expect Makina’s brother to do for them?

2. What kind of machines are working at the place Makina arrives at, which her brother had gone to see?

3. What does Makina say people are doing when they combine languages?

4. What part of language is Makina’s brother teaching the fellow soldier who talks to him and Makina?

5. How does Makina’s brother answer when she asks if he got hurt?

(see the answer keys)

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