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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. In paragraph 2, what does the narrator say she sometimes thinks her mother has no memory of from her youth?
(a) Double somersaults and heart-stopping catches.
(b) Devouring books and writing poetry.
(c) School dances and young love.
(d) Cramming for tests and getting good grades.

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

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

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the narrator suggest may have been Harold's final thought as he fell into the crowd on the day of the disaster?

2. What would Harold show the audience members during part of their act?

3. What is the narrator's mother's name?

4. What does the narrator say audience members ate while waiting for the act to begin?

5. What does the narrator sometimes do in her childhood room?

Short Essay Questions

1. What events followed lightning striking the main tent pole while Harold and Anna were performing?

2. Why does the narrator find it unsurprising that her mother was able to perform while seven months pregnant?

3. Why does the narrator sometimes forget that her mother was part of the Flying Avalons?

4. What type of performer was the narrator's mother? Where does she live and what is her medical condition?

5. Why does the narrator say people in the East are at a disadvantage regarding weather changes than those in the West, where she used to live?

6. What stands in the center of town as a reminder of the disaster? Where does the narrator find out about the events that day?

7. How does the narrator describe the way her mother moves through their home in New Hampshire in paragraph 1?

8. Describe Anna and Harold's typical trapeze performance.

9. What detail about Anna was not mentioned in the newspaper accounts of the disaster?

10. How is the scene at the circus before the disaster described? What was the weather like? What was the audience doing?

(see the answer keys)

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