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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 job does the narrator highlight for the Woman in the first job magazine she leaves for her?
(a) Parcel Sorter.
(b) Telephone operator.
(c) Office cleaner.
(d) Newspaper deliverer.

2. Who thwarts the narrator's efforts to introduce herself to the Woman while on her break one afternoon?
(a) Supervisor Hamomoto.
(b) Supervisor Tsukada.
(c) The director.
(d) The hotel manager.

3. What did the narrator once do in a vain attempt to get to know the Woman in the Purple Skirt?
(a) Call her and pretend she dialed the wrong number.
(b) Bump into her.
(c) Deliver her mail.
(d) Sit near her on the bench.

4. How early does the Woman in the Purple Skirt leave for the bus on the first day of her new job?
(a) 9:00 a.m.
(b) 4:45 a.m.
(c) 7:30 a.m.
(d) 6:00 a.m.

5. Where does the Woman in the Purple Skirt go each week at the start of the story?
(a) A bakery.
(b) The community pool.
(c) The library.
(d) A bar.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the Woman in the Purple Skirt fail to bring on her first day, which disappoints Supervisor Tsukada?

2. What family event marked the last time the narrator saw her sister?

3. What is the narrator called at work?

4. How does the Woman in the Purple Skirt react when asked to introduced herself during the meeting on her first day?

5. How long after her job interview does the Woman land her new job?

Short Essay Questions

1. What changes does the narrator note about the Woman when she has a job versus when she does not?

2. What does the narrator overhear Supervisor Tsukada and the director saying about the Woman during her first day on the job?

3. How do the children at the park interact with the Woman in the Purple Skirt at the park? How does she react to them?

4. How do the hotel employees feel about the Woman in the Purple Skirt when she first starts working there?

5. In what ways does the Woman in the Purple Skirt remind the narrator of her sister? What is the narrator's relationship with her sister?

6. Where does the Woman in the Purple Skirt live? What does this place reveal about the Woman?

7. What does the narrator do while the director is training the Woman in the Purple Skirt during her first day of work?

8. Who is Mei-chan and how does she relate to the Woman in the Purple Skirt?

9. Describe the first monthly staff meeting that the Woman attends. What is the focus? How does she behave?

10. What surprises the narrator about the Woman in the Purple Skirt after they begin to work together?

(see the answer keys)

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