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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What happens at ten-fifteen?
(a) A window breaks.
(b) The sprinklers begin watering the lawn.
(c) The nursery walls come to life.
(d) The house shuts itself down.

2. What causes the house to temporarily "give up" as the fire spreads?
(a) The house is ready to "die."
(b) It has begun to rain outside.
(c) There is no more water.
(d) The house is waiting for the flames to reach the attic.

3. Who is Baal?
(a) A Mesopotamian warrior.
(b) The dog that guards hell in Greek mythology.
(c) An Egyptian pharaoh.
(d) A pre-Christian god.

4. What has happened to the city around the house?
(a) It has been flooded by massive rains.
(b) It has been leveled by a bomb.
(c) It has been leveled by an earthquake.
(d) It has been flooded by a burst dam.

5. What is the image of the west wall meant to allude to?
(a) An asteroid strike.
(b) Similar silhouettes at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
(c) The Biblical flood.
(d) A recent riot in Los Angeles.

6. "Mr. Featherstone" is an example of what literary technique?
(a) Kenning.
(b) Epithet.
(c) Oxymoron.
(d) Paradox.

7. In the sentence "The morning house lay empty," there is an example of which technique?
(a) Metaphor.
(b) Punning.
(c) Passive voice.
(d) Parallelism.

8. Why does the house let the dog in?
(a) It is programmed to let in any dog or cat.
(b) It wants the dog to find the family.
(c) It is an accident.
(d) It recognizes the dog.

9. In which city does the story take place?
(a) Allendale.
(b) Petaluma.
(c) Sacramento.
(d) San Francisco.

10. The line "And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn," contains an example of which technique?
(a) Metaphor.
(b) Oxymoron.
(c) Personification.
(d) Paradox.

11. The line "And swallows circling with their shimmering sound" is an example of which technique?
(a) Personification.
(b) Alliteration.
(c) Metaphor.
(d) Parallelism.

12. When the fire travels outside and up the sides of the house, it is described as what?
(a) Clever.
(b) Mischievous.
(c) Overwhelming.
(d) Treacherous.

13. Who does the story imply is still alive in the city?
(a) Some animals.
(b) A few scientists.
(c) The wealthy.
(d) No one.

14. When the narrator tells readers that it seems like the voice-clock is worried that no one will get up, this is an example of what technique?
(a) Foreshadowing.
(b) Metaphor.
(c) Imagery.
(d) Flashback.

15. What historical event is alluded to with the date given in the beginning of the story?
(a) The bombing of Hiroshima.
(b) The first testing of a nuclear bomb.
(c) The beginning of World War II.
(d) The beginning of the Cold War.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Bradbury metaphorically compare the house to?

2. What is strange about how the nursery reacts to the fire?

3. What is the probable purpose of emphasizing the roundness of the smoke plume and the great quantity of smoke?

4. Just before the house collapses, what does it do?

5. The robot mice are said to live in "warrens." This means that they live in what?

(see the answer keys)

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