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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. What was the narrator's mother's former career as stated in the first sentence?
(a) Fire breather.
(b) Ballerina.
(c) Trapeze artist.
(d) Ringleader.

2. After reading paragraph 1, what do readers learn about the narrator's mother's former partner?
(a) He has died.
(b) He was unkind.
(c) They had a falling out.
(d) He lives with them.

3. What happened during Harold and Anna's act just before they were able to clasp hands in midair?
(a) Anna went into labor.
(b) A blizzard forced everyone to run for shelter.
(c) A strong wind blew the tent away.
(d) Lightning struck the main tent pole.

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

5. According to paragraph 4, during what month did Anna experience her disaster?
(a) November.
(b) June.
(c) September.
(d) February.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who was the other half of her mother's act?

2. Where does the narrator say the tabloids carried the story of their town's disaster?

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

4. What stands "cast in concrete" (para. 3) to commemorate the accident?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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