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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which is the best summary of how the poem "There Will Come Soft Rains" compares to the short story of the same name?
(a) The poem focuses more on the survival of a world without humans.
(b) The poem focuses more on the role of technology in humankind's demise.
(c) The poem is a darker version of the same ideas contained in the short story.
(d) The poem is more hopeful about humankind's future.

2. What does the dog do once it gets inside the house?
(a) It falls asleep in the nursery.
(b) It begins eating the spoiled food.
(c) It looks through the house for the family's other dog.
(d) It barks at every door.

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

4. When the story ends, what is left standing?
(a) A tree.
(b) Nothing.
(c) A distant building.
(d) One wall of the house.

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

6. What happens to the dog when it cannot get into the kitchen?
(a) It scratches through the door.
(b) It runs through the house breaking things.
(c) It leaves the house.
(d) It dies.

7. From two thirty-five to four o'clock, what can readers infer that the family would ordinarily be doing?
(a) Cleaning.
(b) Playing cards and having a snack.
(c) Having friends over to eat and listen to the radio.
(d) They would still be at work and school.

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

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

10. What is the reaction of nature to the end of human existence in the poem "There Will Come Soft Rains"?
(a) Nature grieves the loss of humankind.
(b) Nature is unaware and indifferent.
(c) Nature is puzzled and uncertain.
(d) Nature celebrates the end of humankind.

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

12. On what date does the story begin?
(a) August 4.
(b) April 4.
(c) April 6.
(d) August 6.

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

14. The use of sentence fragments in the description of the spreading fire is probably intended to create what effect?
(a) Confusion and doubt.
(b) Distance and irony.
(c) Apathy and resignation.
(d) Chaos and speed.

15. To what does Bradbury compare folding tables?
(a) Oysters,
(b) Books.
(c) Folded hands.
(d) Butterflies.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. In which city does the story take place?

3. What does "feathery fire" describe in the poem "There Will Come Soft Rains"?

4. To what does the phrase "the children's hour" allude?

5. In the image of animals, the panther is said to be "cavorting." What is this panther doing?

(see the answer keys)

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