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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 4.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who are some of the ancestors on Nabokov's paternal, Russian side?
(a) An explorer, the sister of a prominent Decembrist, and Dmitri Nabokov, the author's grandfather, who served as Minister of Justice for eight years.
(b) A government leader, an opera singer, and Dmitri Nabokov, the surgeon.
(c) A lawyer, scientist, and Dmitri Nabokov, a well-known actor.
(d) A prominent Caholic cardinal, a physician, and Dmitri Nabokov, an inventor.

2. To what simple rule does Nabokov's mother ascribe?
(a) Be honest and things will go your way.
(b) Love your neighbors as yourself.
(c) Follow the Golden Rule.
(d) Love with all your soul and leave the rest to fate.

3. Why is Nabokov disappointed to hear that one of his tutors marries a peasant girl?
(a) He thinks he should have married someone in a higher social class.
(b) He thinks he should have married one of his sisters.
(c) He thinks of his tutors as people devoted to their art or profession.
(d) He thinks he should have married his aunt.

4. What properties do the Nabokovs own until the Russian revolution?
(a) A large estate in St. Petersburg.
(b) Several summer cottages on the Baltic Sea.
(c) Several large estates south of St. Petersburg.
(d) A large estate in Moscow.

5. What is the first memory Nabokov drags from the darkness?
(a) Going on a picnic with his mother and father.
(b) Being fed by his nanny.
(c) Holding hands with his mother and father, as the three of them walk along a garden path in 1903,
(d) Playing in the yard on the estate.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Nabokov call the process of using both the English and Russian translations of "Speak, Memory" to shape the current work?

2. What does Nabokov reveal about his mind?

3. What does the rain cause to grow on the estate?

4. Why does Nabokov's mother often wander the estate's forest?

5. Where do the children bathe?

(see the answer key)

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