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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 does the narrator's only sense of peace comes from reading?
(a) Psalms and Proverbs specifically.
(b) The works of the Classical writers.
(c) The New Testament.
(d) The Old Testament.

2. What complaint does the narrator make about the Tagus River in Section 79?
(a) It has a bad smell.
(b) It is too narrow.
(c) People have turned it into recreation.
(d) It's natural beauty has been destroyed.

3. How does being around other people and talking with them make the narrator feel?
(a) Confused.
(b) Inspired.
(c) Tired.
(d) Energized.

4. What does the narrator say would be burdensome to him?
(a) Writing.
(b) Good deeds.
(c) Evil deeds.
(d) Family.

5. What about the novels he reads makes the narrator cry?
(a) He can't meet the characters in reality.
(b) The characters all seem so happy.
(c) Novels that are more than 500 pages.
(d) He cannot change the characters to his own way of thinking.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the real purpose of literature, according to the narrator?

2. What does the narrator say is the best way to ignore life?

3. According to the narrator, what is a cult not worthy of worship?

4. What does the narrator say is a disease born from civilization?

5. If reading is a way to dream, who actually guides that dream?

Short Essay Questions

1. Which does the narrator prefer to write, poetry or prose, and why?

2. When describing a sunset, what does the narrator wish he had and what makes him wish he had it?

3. Does the narrator do good or evil deeds?

4. Why does the narrator say that don't people change their lives, even when repulsed by them?

5. Why does the narrator say he writes with scenic description interspersed in his writing?

6. Explain the narrator's transformation from his day job to his writing.

7. What does the narrator advise about thinking about life?

8. Where does the narrator believe that dreams may exist?

9. What does the narrator say about his imagination as it relates to life?

10. What does it take, according to the narrator, for people to be acceptable the world's standards?

(see the answer keys)

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