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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. The secretaries in _________, almost by definition at the time of the book, were failures in their lives, according to the Introduction.

2. What should the roots of a potted tree look like when one is choosing between potted trees to raise?

3. Who prepared almost every single document that the magistrate would see during their daily work?

4. What was the giant that Shen Fu saw when he was concentrating all of his attention on two insects battling in the grass?

5. What was the sound that Shen Fu associated with cranes flying around in the air when he was a child?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the gift from a friend that Shen Fu receives when he is younger, which causes him to go into a lot of detail?

2. What is the interesting way that Shen Fu and Yun want to be reincarnated when they are born again in their next life?

3. What it the task which Wan Tsai-chang completed, which makes him the only person that Shen Fu knows to have done such a thing?

4. Why does Shen Fu take up so much time talking about the arrangement of pots and cases? What is he trying to do for the plants?

5. What is the therapy that Shen Fu receives for his most unfortunate injury, according to the book?

6. Why are Shen Fu's failings described as falling into the category of provision for his family?

7. What happens in the incident with the earthworm and Shen Fu when he is a child?

8. What doesn't Shen Fu understand about other couples since he and Yun's relationship is so different from the others?

9. What are the other two favorite flowers of Shen Fu, which he describes in the story according to the way he arranges them and pots them?

10. What did Yun's family laugh at her for which made her sheepish in the days leading up to her wedding with Shen Yu?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Shen Fu holds close his memories of childhood as he tries to describe the simplest pleasures in his life as he grows up.

Part 1: Why do you think childhood memories are so important to Shen Fu in the telling of his story?

Part 2: Do you think it's important to look back at the past when you are living in the present day?

Part 3: How do you think focusing on one's past might be detrimental to one's present and to one's future?

Essay Topic 2

When Shen Fu and Yun decided they wanted to entertain their friends, they would not spend a lot of money on food, but they would use that saved money to buy wine instead.

Part 1: What do you think of the choices that Shen Fu and Yun make in order to entertain their friends?

Part 2: Why do you think Shen Fu and Yun feel it is important to always have wine when they are entertaining?

Part 3: How would you feel if you were a guest of Shen Fu and Yun?

Essay Topic 3

In his gardens, Shen Fu would create the illusions of other landscapes, with the use of rocks and plants.

Part 1: What is the value of creating illusions in one's life?

Part 2: Do you think that Shen Fu might have been trying to tell others in the world something about himself through his gardens?

Part 3: How do you think you might respond if you were to see one of Shen Fu's gardens?

(see the answer keys)

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