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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Where did the narrator's mother and father meet?
(a) At the circus.
(b) In the hospital.
(c) At the library.
(d) At the town pool.

2. How did Anna's hands get burned during the disaster?
(a) She grabbed onto a metal wire that was hot from the lighting.
(b) She grabbed onto the tent just as it went up in flames.
(c) Her blind fold was on fire when she removed it.
(d) Her handle bars were struck by lightning.

3. How did the fire get put out on the day of the disaster?
(a) The fire department.
(b) The ringleader and other performers used a fire extinguisher.
(c) Locals volunteers threw buckets of water on it.
(d) By rain and men's jackets.

4. What is the narrator's father's occupation?
(a) Trapeze artist.
(b) Teacher.
(c) Lawyer.
(d) Doctor.

5. In paragraph 15, why does the narrator say she came to stay with her mother after her father's death?
(a) To take her for walks.
(b) To read to her.
(c) To cook for her.
(d) To clean the house.

6. How does the narrator say she often thought of her sister when she was young?
(a) As a better version of herself.
(b) As a separate person.
(c) As a ghost.
(d) As an unfinished version of herself.

7. What did Anna's second husband teach her to do while in hospital?
(a) Read.
(b) Walk again.
(c) Speak Spanish.
(d) Play chess.

8. Where had the narrator's father "spent his war" as explained in paragraph 13?
(a) At university.
(b) In combat.
(c) At an air force training grounds.
(d) In Canada.

9. Why is the narrator easily able to pick her sister's gravestone from afar?
(a) It is shaped like a baby girl.
(b) It is shaped like a heart.
(c) It is shaped like a lamb at rest.
(d) It is shaped like a trapeze swinger.

10. What does the narrator think must have happened to her mother after she was taken to the hospital the day of the disaster?
(a) She miscarried.
(b) She found out her husband died.
(c) She lost her vision.
(d) She hemmorhaged.

11. What word does the narrator use to describe her mother's time in the hospital?
(a) Imprisonment.
(b) Rehabilitation.
(c) Confinement.
(d) Vacation.

12. Near what family member was Harold buried?
(a) His grandfather.
(b) His father.
(c) His uncle.
(d) His nephew.

13. What did the narrator's mother once tell her one would be amazed by?
(a) How much money a trapeze artist makes.
(b) How many things a mother can do.
(c) How scared she was each time she performed.
(d) How many things you can do when falling.

14. Where was Harold Avalon buried?
(a) In the cemetery near their house.
(b) In the circus cemetery.
(c) In the family plot in the backyard.
(d) He was cremated.

15. What is the second thing Anna did the day of the disaster when she did not feel her husband's hands?
(a) She tore off her blindfold.
(b) She changed direction.
(c) She grasped his ankle.
(d) She yelled for help.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the narrator say seems to happen to her sister's grave as the years progress?

2. Where did the narrator sometimes go when she was a child "just to sit" (para. 11)?

3. Where did Anna live after touring Europe when she was young?

4. What are some places the narrator says her mother had been and her father "longed to visit" (para. 13)?

5. What did Anna's second husband buy her when she was in the hospital, which she had never had before?

(see the answer keys)

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