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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What happens when the mistress sees Joncour at the party?
(a) Their eyes meet across the room.
(b) She runs into his arms.
(c) She smiles at him.
(d) She walks over to speak to him.

2. Who gives Joncour his bath?
(a) 1 man servant.
(b) Hara Kei.
(c) 3 women with white painted faces.
(d) 3 men with scarves over their faces.

3. What happens to the town of Lavilledieu when the silk eggs fail?
(a) The town has a High Mass to pray for a better year.
(b) The town dies completely.
(c) It has little effect on the town, as farming is the main producer.
(d) It hurts the town financially.

4. What did Herve Joncour's father want him to do for a living?
(a) Have a career in the army.
(b) Be mayor.
(c) Be a baker.
(d) Be a silk manufacturer.

5. What year is it when the novel begins?
(a) 1801.
(b) 1910.
(c) 1861.
(d) 1761.

6. What does Joncour do for the rest of the year when he's not working?
(a) He plays with his children.
(b) He writes on his novel.
(c) He rests.
(d) He reads to his wife.

7. What kind of silkworm eggs does Joncour buy in 1861?
(a) Eggs from China.
(b) Bad eggs.
(c) Very healthy eggs.
(d) Good eggs from France.

8. How does Joncour view life?
(a) He likes to cook on the weekends.
(b) He likes to observe life, but not participate.
(c) He likes to participate in life fully.
(d) He likes to sit and read to his wife.

9. What did Baldabiou do with all of his secrets about silk?
(a) He only told the mayor.
(b) He shared them.
(c) He only told Joncour.
(d) He only told Helene.

10. Who lives across the street from Joncour?
(a) Helene's family.
(b) Baldabieu.
(c) His father.
(d) Jean Berbeck.

11. How does Joncour get across the Japanese harbor?
(a) In a canoe.
(b) He swims.
(c) In a small one-mast Chinese ship.
(d) On a Dutch smuggler's ship.

12. With whom does Joncour negotiate the sale of silk eggs the first time?
(a) The mistress of Hara Kei.
(b) A man he meets in the harbor of Japan.
(c) A Japanese official.
(d) A man masked by black silk.

13. How long was Japan cut off from the rest of the world?
(a) 200 years.
(b) 20 years.
(c) A century.
(d) A decade.

14. What does Baldabiou say it is like to hold Japanese silk?
(a) It is like air.
(b) It is rough.
(c) It is as soft as a baby's cheek.
(d) It is like holding nothing.

15. What kind of living does Joncour make with the silk trade?
(a) He is poor by city standards.
(b) He does not make very much money.
(c) A good living.
(d) He is the wealthiest man in town.

Short Answer Questions

1. When Baldabiou assembles all of Lavelledieu's silk manufacturers, what do they think of Japan?

2. Who bands together to pay for Joncour's expedition to Japan?

3. What happens to Joncour's neighbor in the end?

4. When Joncour arrives at his house in Hara Kei's village on his third trip, he can see Hara Kei's house. What does he notice?

5. How many silk eggs can a person hold in their hand?

(see the answer keys)

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