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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. From the story's context, when must Charlie have died?
(a) In the year 2000.
(b) Shortly after the September 11th attack.
(c) In the year 2003.
(d) Before the year 2000.

2. Besides their minimal rent, what task are Nathaniel and his roommates performing in exchange for a place to live?
(a) They collect the rent from Matsumoto's other tenants.
(b) They take care of Matsumoto's cats.
(c) They are repainting the loft.
(d) They sort through and forward Matsumoto's mail.

3. To whom does Nathaniel imagine telling the story of the Y2K computer issue?
(a) His readers.
(b) His grandchildren.
(c) His children.
(d) A historian.

4. What does Nathaniel do with his spare time that his parents find worrisome?
(a) Draws comics.
(b) Sings in a band.
(c) Goes rock climbing.
(d) Skateboards.

5. When Lucien is in the gallery imagining that he is with Charlie, what does he promise her?
(a) He will find another woman to love and be happy again.
(b) He will put more energy into the gallery.
(c) He will find another apartment for Nathaniel.
(d) He will try to think more kindly about Rose and Isaac.

6. What is Russell's business relationship to Amity?
(a) He is her lawyer.
(b) He works with her at the stock exchange.
(c) He is her book agent.
(d) He is an employee of her P.R. firm.

7. What does Nathaniel say that ceremonial occasions remind us about?
(a) That we should love one another.
(b) That time only moves in one direction.
(c) That ideas are bigger than any one person.
(d) That life is unpredictable.

8. What is Nathaniel's job in the narrative present?
(a) He works on the floor of the New York Stock exchange.
(b) He works in the New York subway's architecture department.
(c) He works as a building manager for Matsumoto.
(d) He is a bartender at a bar near Matsumoto's loft.

9. Which character works for Itami Systems?
(a) Madison.
(b) Lucien.
(c) Lyle.
(d) Matsumoto.

10. What ridiculous detail does Nathaniel give in his description of the last months of 1999?
(a) Cults announcing that aliens would come to Earth at midnight on New Year's Eve.
(b) Celebrity clairvoyants making wild predictions in the tabloids.
(c) Preppers sealing their families into shelters underground.
(d) Businesses desperately trying to teach their staffs how to do math without computerized cash registers.

11. What does Lucien end up saying to his assistant on page 8 when he wants to give her a piece of advice?
(a) "Don't believe everything you hear."
(b) "Don't feel sad."
(c) "Don't worry."
(d) "Don't bother about the phones."

12. Why is Lyle sad all of the time?
(a) He is homesick and hates New York.
(b) He and his boyfriend have broken up.
(c) His boyfriend has moved to London.
(d) He is heavily in debt.

13. What does Nathaniel suggest that people might be desperate enough to burn in the wake of a global computer failure?
(a) Stacks of money.
(b) Their old issues of the New York Review.
(c) Their designer clothing and shoes.
(d) Their children's elementary school artwork.

14. Which of the possible consequences of a global computer failure that Nathaniel mentions could be considered foreshadowing?
(a) The idea that airplanes might lose their guidance systems and crash.
(b) The idea that people might be trapped in high-rise elevators.
(c) The idea that hospitals might not be able to monitor patients.
(d) The idea that widespread food shortages might occur.

15. To what does Nathaniel compare the sight of Manhattan from Matsumoto's loft?
(a) A miniature city from his childhood train set.
(b) The circuit board of a computer.
(c) Van Gogh's Starry Night.
(d) A glass of champagne.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Nathaniel say history teaches us?

2. Of all of the things that Nathaniel can see from Matsumoto's loft, which is most important to him?

3. What made tears come into Nathaniel's eyes the first time he saw Matsumoto's loft?

4. Where did Nathaniel meet Madison, Amity, and Lyle?

5. What does Isaac do for a living?

(see the answer keys)

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