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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In the poem "There Will Come Soft Rains," the plum trees are in "tremulous" white. Readers can infer that this refers to what?
(a) Blossoms.
(b) Snow.
(c) Ash.
(d) Butterflies.

2. 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 the Cold War.
(d) The beginning of World War II.

3. 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) Flashback.
(d) Imagery.

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

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

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

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

8. Why does the dog want to get into the kitchen so badly?
(a) The house has begun making pancakes.
(b) Its food dish is in the kitchen.
(c) The rest of the house is filling with smoke.
(d) It thinks the family is in the kitchen.

9. What effect is the constant repetition and rhyming of the voice-clock probably meant to have?
(a) It echos the language of fairy tales and nursery rhymes.
(b) It reinforces the similarity of everything that the voice clock says.
(c) It stresses the forgetfulness of the family.
(d) It demonstrates a positive attitude toward technology.

10. The robot mice are said to live in "warrens." This means that they live in what?
(a) Small boxes.
(b) Plastic sleeves.
(c) Racks.
(d) Networks of tunnels.

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

12. Who is the author of the poem that the house reads after dinner?
(a) Teasdale.
(b) Longfellow.
(c) Thomas.
(d) Bradbury.

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

14. 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."

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What happens at ten o'clock?

2. 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?

3. What is the house compared to as it burns to the ground?

4. When the windows break and the wind makes the fire grow and spread, which thematic motif is reinforced?

5. What does the dog do once it gets inside the house?

(see the answer keys)

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