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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Soon, the string of nurses transforms into what?
(a) A string of doctors.
(b) A string of governesses.
(c) A string of teachers.
(d) A string of surgeons.

2. This chapter is the first recorded work, published in French in 1936, under the name "Mademoiselle O."
(a) Chapter Seven.
(b) Chapter Five.
(c) Chapter Two.
(d) Chapter Four.

3. Where does Nabokov's mother trick Dimitri into believing he is still?
(a) In London.
(b) In France.
(c) In Greece.
(d) In Russia.

4. To what is Nabokov's mother quite sensitive?
(a) Perfume.
(b) Insults.
(c) Seemingly small events.
(d) Insect bites.

5. What is their mother's reaction when she sees that her children have opened the presents from their stockings early and poorly rewrapped them?
(a) She scolds them for trying to deceive her.
(b) She laughs at their attempt at deception.
(c) She pretends to not see their poor rewrapping.
(d) She spots their deception and bursts into tears.

6. How does the family spend their time in this town?
(a) Shopping.
(b) Mountain climbing.
(c) On a boat.
(d) On the beach.

7. What is one of his other memories?
(a) Playing tag with his younger brother.
(b) Getting lost in the estate's vast forest.
(c) Getting his foot stuck in the crib.
(d) A dark tunnel through which he crawls, behind a divan in his parent's home.

8. How does the Nabokov family frequently travel from St. Petersburg to Paris?
(a) In a sleigh.
(b) By stagecoach.
(c) By horse and carriage.
(d) In the elegant brown Nord-Express train

9. It is unusual for aristocrats in Russian to be hanged, and as a child, what does Nabokov call the trail through the woods on the estate where a previous owner had been hanged?
(a) The "Road to a Hanging."
(b) The "Path of the Hanged."
(c) The "Hanging Rope."
(d) The "walk of the Hanged One."

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

11. For whom is young Vladimir mistaken?
(a) A Swedish boy.
(b) An American boy.
(c) An English boy.
(d) A German boy.

12. What does the rain cause to grow on the estate?
(a) Geraniums.
(b) Mushrooms.
(c) Hibiscus.
(d) Grass.

13. What does Nabokov call the process of using both the English and Russian translations of "Speak, Memory" to shape the current work?
(a) Rewriting.
(b) Re-Englishing.
(c) Reediting.
(d) Redoing.

14. What is the process by which Vladimir Nabokov writes "Speak, Memory?"
(a) The autobiographical novel is culled from essays on his life.
(b) The autobiographical novel is culled from stories told to him by family members.
(c) The autobiographical novel is culled from Russian history books.
(d) The autobiographical novel is culled from essays written by the author's son.

15. Of what descent is Nabokov's mother?
(a) Aristocratic German descent.
(b) Aristocratic English descent.
(c) Aristocratic Swedish descent.
(d) Aristocratic Norwegian descent.

Short Answer Questions

1. How do the aristocrats confront the ocean waves?

2. What do the first-class carriages feature?

3. What has Nabokov always had difficulty doing?

4. Why does Young Vladimir favor the new methods of studying butterflies?

5. From where does Mademoiselle come?

(see the answer keys)

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