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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 descriptor of the mood of the scene in the study, where the poem is read and music plays as a cigar slowly burns down to ash?
(a) Tragic and melodramatic.
(b) Frantic and chaotic.
(c) Haunting and ironic.
(d) Amusing and nostalgic.

2. Which room recreates the sights, sounds, and smells of the African savanna?
(a) The nursery.
(b) The bathroom.
(c) The living room.
(d) The kitchen.

3. What is the likely purpose of inserting the house's "dialogue" ("Help, help! Fire! Run, run!") into the scene that describes the fire consuming the house?
(a) It reminds the reader that the house is a living thing.
(b) It reinforces how helpless and pointless the technology is in the face of nature's power.
(c) It reminds the reader of the death of the family.
(d) It clarifies the order in which the house is burning, because the house can still "speak."

4. What does Bradbury say that the house is angry about when the dog shows up?
(a) That the family is not with it.
(b) The disturbance to its routine.
(c) That the dog is probably contagious.
(d) Needing to clean up the mud from its feet.

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

6. What allusion is present in the weather box's announcement of the rain?
(a) There is a reference to a very old folk tune, often sung by children.
(b) There is a reference to a popular book of Bradbury's time.
(c) There is a reference to a Greek myth about rain and death.
(d) There is a reference to a famous Dutch painting.

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

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

9. What is the name of the poem that the house reads after dinner?
(a) "There Will Come Soft Rains."
(b) "August 6."
(c) "The Children's Hour."
(d) "Fire and Ice."

10. To what story do the robot mice allude?
(a) Little Red Riding Hood.
(b) Snow White.
(c) Cinderella.
(d) Beauty and the Beast.

11. What is the first thing that the voice-clock announces?
(a) Time to get up.
(b) Time for work.
(c) It is raining.
(d) Time for breakfast.

12. 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 role of technology in humankind's demise.
(b) The poem is a darker version of the same ideas contained in the short story.
(c) The poem focuses more on the survival of a world without humans.
(d) The poem is more hopeful about humankind's future.

13. What does Bradbury compare to Baal?
(a) The incinerator.
(b) The stove.
(c) The house.
(d) The dog.

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. To what famous dog is this dog an allusion?

2. What can be seen on the house's west wall?

3. In the poem "There Will Come Soft Rains," the plum trees are in "tremulous" white. Readers can infer that this refers to what?

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

5. Bradbury mentions that martinis "manifested" on tables. What did the martinis do?

(see the answer keys)

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