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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the narrator's mother's name?
(a) Agnes.
(b) Alice.
(c) Abbeth.
(d) Anna.

2. What metaphor is used in paragraph 5 to describe the way Anna and Harold would drop through the air during their act?
(a) Like two peas in a pod.
(b) Like dragonflies in the night.
(c) Like two doves in love.
(d) Like two sparkling birds.

3. What did the ringmaster do to introduce the Flying Avalons on the day of the disaster?
(a) He cracked his whip and pointed to the ceiling.
(b) He announced Anna and Harold to the crowd.
(c) He gave a little background on their love story.
(d) He blew a horn and jumped up and down.

4. Who was the other half of her mother's act?
(a) Hank Allendale.
(b) Herman Adams.
(c) Harold Avalon.
(d) Henry Allen.

5. What is the name of the narrator's mother's act?
(a) The Floating Avatars.
(b) The Fluttering Angels.
(c) The Flying Avalons.
(d) The Fledgling Abyssinians.

6. What would Harold show the audience members during part of their act?
(a) His blindfold.
(b) His wedding ring.
(c) Anna's smear of lipstick near his mouth.
(d) A card trick.

7. What did Harold and Anna do in midair during their act according to paragraph 5?
(a) Change costumes.
(b) Embrace.
(c) Kiss.
(d) Tell a joke.

8. What condition does the narrator's mother have as explained in paragraph 1?
(a) She is blind.
(b) She is deaf.
(c) She is paralyzed.
(d) She has dementia.

9. What does the narrator sometimes do in her childhood room?
(a) She sews.
(b) She talks on the phone.
(c) She paints.
(d) She reads.

10. Where does the narrator and her mother live?
(a) Rhode Island.
(b) New Hampshire.
(c) Vermont.
(d) Maine.

11. What does the narrator point out in paragraph one about how her mother moves through the house?
(a) She is quite clumsy.
(b) She acts as though her daughter is not there.
(c) She never bumps into anything or knocks anything over.
(d) She barely moves so as not to disturb anything.

12. What is something the narrator says happens when she is in her room and gets a "whiff of smoke from the stove downstairs" (para.2)?
(a) She knows her mother must be cooking something special.
(b) The stitches burn beneath her fingers.
(c) She scurries to make sure her mother is okay.
(d) She panics and cannot breath.

13. What does the narrator say her mother did the first time she owes her existence to her?
(a) She saved her daughter's life.
(b) She met her first husband.
(c) She saved herself.
(d) She was born.

14. Where does the narrator say she used to live in paragraph 4?
(a) The North.
(b) The Far East.
(c) The South.
(d) The West.

15. What did Harold and Anna use for part of their act?
(a) Strobe lights.
(b) Colorful scarves.
(c) Puppies.
(d) Blindfolds.

Short Answer Questions

1. What phrase is used to describe the narrator's mother's movements in paragraph 2?

2. What detail about Anna does the narrator note was not mentioned in the newspaper accounts of the disaster?

3. What happened during Harold and Anna's act just before they were able to clasp hands in midair?

4. What was the narrator's mother's former career as stated in the first sentence?

5. In paragraph 3, where does the narrator say she gets her information about her mother's disaster?

(see the answer keys)

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