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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What color is the light in the man's bedroom?
(a) Blue.
(b) Grey.
(c) Yellow.
(d) Purple.

2. Who is with the landlady when the landlady is talking about the mayor?
(a) The main character.
(b) The landlady's son.
(c) The mail carrier.
(d) No one.

3. What does the hurricane do to the city in the woman's story?
(a) Produces winds that uproot trees and tear off several roofs.
(b) Drops large hail that smashes windows in buildings and in cars.
(c) Causes flooding that disrupts transportation.
(d) Passes by without actually striking the city.

4. What technique is used in the sentence: "Outside her apartment, the weather was changing: the wind rose, the branches swayed on the young trees, and the leaves fluttered" (19)?
(a) Parallelism.
(b) Juxtaposition.
(c) Analogy.
(d) Non sequitur.

5. Besides reading the Bible, what else does the woman spend her time doing in the period of time her story is about?
(a) She looks out the window and watches the news.
(b) She calls each of her family members and friends.
(c) She shops for emergency supplies and fills her tub with water.
(d) She reads the Koran and the Talmud.

6. What does the narrator say "usually promises to be interesting" (19)?
(a) A religious crisis.
(b) A flood.
(c) A death.
(d) A hurricane.

7. For what reason, besides that "there may not be enough to tell about him," does the woman think that the man might not be the right "center" for her story (20)?
(a) This might not be the right time to tell his story.
(b) She is unclear about how she feels about the man.
(c) The man will be angry that she wrote about him.
(d) There is no real resolution to his story.

8. For the majority of the story, what tone does the narrator adopt?
(a) Objective.
(b) Melancholic.
(c) Dismissive.
(d) Amused.

9. What does the landlady say the mayor gave her?
(a) Carpet.
(b) Flowers.
(c) An award.
(d) A stove.

10. What technique is used in the phrase "the stink of burning hair, fur, and horn" (19)?
(a) Imagery.
(b) Assonance.
(c) Onomatopoeia.
(d) Synesthesia.

11. Who is "thinking of writing a letter to the President" (20)?
(a) The landlady.
(b) The woman at the church.
(c) The man who thinks he is dying.
(d) The main character.

12. Why are rams' horns being blown all around the city?
(a) It is Rosh Hashanah.
(b) It is Yom Kippur.
(c) It is Sukkot.
(d) It is Hanukkah.

13. After completing her first draft of the story, what does the woman realize about it?
(a) She understands more about herself and her life now that she has written it.
(b) She is losing touch with her passion as a writer.
(c) She cannot remember why she wanted to write it in the first place.
(d) She is afraid that the content of the story will upset her friend.

14. Why does the main character find that the story she is working on is not an easy one to write?
(a) It is about religion.
(b) It is about friendship.
(c) It is about death.
(d) It is about fear.

15. What detail does the story give about the shape of the tape on the windows?
(a) It is shaped like asterisks.
(b) It is shaped like crosses.
(c) It is shaped like the letter "x."
(d) It is shaped like diamonds.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does the woman realize her study of religion has made her feel?

2. Why does the man in the story feel so ill?

3. Where is the woman's landlady from?

4. What technique is used in the sentence: "The story is flat and even, just as the earth seems flat and even when a hurricane is advancing over it" (19)?

5. What detail in the description of the man indicates how ill he feels?

(see the answer keys)

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