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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does the narrator do at the beginning of part three?
(a) Have dinner.
(b) Go wandering.
(c) Meet a lover.
(d) Go to the hospital.

2. How did Helena meet Ludvik?
(a) She had to interview him.
(b) At a demonstration.
(c) In the gallows.
(d) He had to interview her.

3. How does Ludvik find Kostka's flat?
(a) It is dingy.
(b) It is very attractive.
(c) It is sparse.
(d) It is overly lavish.

4. How many empty chairs are at the barber where Ludvik goes to get a shave?
(a) Two.
(b) Three.
(c) One.
(d) Four.

5. What did Zemanek say to Helena in the heat of an argument when their daughter was five?
(a) They married out of Party discipline.
(b) He was sorry they were fighting and he loves her.
(c) That he believed Zdena wasn't his daughter.
(d) Everyone loves in different ways.

6. How much money does Ludvik pull out of his pocket to pay the woman for his shave?
(a) Ten crowns.
(b) Five crowns.
(c) Four crowns.
(d) One crown.

7. How does Zdena feel about Zemanek?
(a) She loathes him.
(b) She is impartial to him.
(c) She worships him.
(d) She likes him enough to get by.

8. What did Zemanek start after Togliatti spoke in Old Town Square?
(a) A fight that turned into a riot.
(b) Fifty thousand people singing in Italian.
(c) Fifty thousand people screaming a slogan.
(d) A fight that crushed a girl he was dating.

9. According to Helena, what does Zemanek live on?
(a) Drink.
(b) His morals.
(c) Hard work.
(d) Applause.

10. Why is Helena going to Moravia?
(a) To do a feature on the Ride of the Kings.
(b) She made up a reason to get closer to Ludvik.
(c) She made up a reason to get away from Ludvik.
(d) To do a feature on the gallows.

11. What organ does Helena have trouble with, under the slightest bit of exertion?
(a) Her lungs.
(b) Her heart.
(c) Her stomach.
(d) Her brain.

12. How long did the wedding festivities last between Zemanek and Helena?
(a) Twenty-four hours.
(b) Two days.
(c) Three hours.
(d) Ten hours.

13. What happened in 1956 and how did it affect Helena and Zemanek?
(a) Stalin became a hero but Pavel didn't like him.
(b) Stalin became a hero but Helena didn't like him.
(c) Stalin's crimes came out, but Pavel remained loyal.
(d) Stalin's crimes came out, but Helena remained loyal.

14. Kostka hopes that Ludvik will use his flat for what?
(a) "Something very laughable."
(b) "Something very clean."
(c) "Something destructive."
(d) "Something really beautiful."

15. When did Helena move to Prague?
(a) 1945.
(b) 1959.
(c) 1939.
(d) 1949.

Short Answer Questions

1. After a disappointing leave in pursuit of the infamous 'Candlestick,' Ludvik decides the same weekend as Stana's wedding to go off on his own. Who does Ludvik meet this weekend?

2. Who is Ludvik's first friend, or the person that sticks out most to him, in his group of black-insignias?

3. Who narrates part three of "The Joke"?

4. Though Ludvik claims to not be a big lover of poetry, he carried three books of poetry with him. Who was the poet that authored these books?

5. Zemanek and Helena were together for nearly two years when what happened?

(see the answer keys)

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