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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is Fumiko's job?
(a) Television presenter.
(b) Systems engineer.
(c) Neurosurgeon.
(d) Online marketing.

2. What problem does Kiyoshi pretend to suffer from when he is in the past?
(a) A failing memory.
(b) A respiratory illness.
(c) A bad back.
(d) A sore foot.

3. What object does Yukio give to his mother when he visits the past?
(a) A piece of pottery.
(b) A property deed.
(c) A bank passbook.
(d) A paintbrush.

4. What kind of dancer does the narrator compare Kazu to as she pours the coffee?
(a) A Shinto shrine dancer.
(b) A kabuki dancer.
(c) A ballerina.
(d) A flamenco dancer.

5. What is Kinuyo's interpretation of Kazu's intentions in adding the stirrer to Yukio's cup and asking him to pass on her regards to his mother?
(a) Kazu was apologizing to Kinuyo for allowing Yukio to attempt suicide.
(b) Kazu was hoping that Kinuyo might find a solution to Kazu's mother's situation.
(c) Kazu was asking Kinuyo to accomplish a final task that only Kinuyo could accomplish.
(d) Kazu was trying to warn Kinuyo that she must get to a doctor soon,

Short Answer Questions

1. Whom does Yukio call when he goes outside?

2. How long ago did Kiyoshi's wife die?

3. What does Miki find on the café floor after Kiyoshi returns from the past?

4. Who is the startled man who exclaims when Kiyoshi appears in the café in the past?

5. How does Nagare explain what happened to Kaname?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Yaeko Hirai's story inspire Kiyoshi to make a change in the way he has been living his life?

2. When Miki writes her wish that Nagare would become happy, how does Nagare react?

3. What news about Yukio does the reader learn in "Lovers"?

4. What is Kurata wearing in the story's opening, and why does it make him seem out of place?

5. What kind gesture does Nagare make when he gives Kyoko her order, and how does Kyoko react?

6. What lies does Yukio tell his mother about taking care of himself, and why does he tell these lies?

7. What does Kinuyo explain to Yukio about the silver stirrer, and what does he realize this means Kinuyo knows?

8. When Yukio is discouraged about his future, what keeps him working toward becoming a potter?

9. When Kimiko enters the café, whom does Kiyoshi pretend to be, and why?

10. What larger point about life is the narrator of "Husband and Wife" making in the story's introductory comments about winter and spring?

(see the answer keys)

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