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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Where did Nathaniel meet Madison, Amity, and Lyle?
(a) At his first job in New York.
(b) In college.
(c) In high school.
(d) At a bar near Matsumoto's loft.

2. How are Nathaniel and Lucien related?
(a) Nathaniel is Lucien's brother's son.
(b) Nathaniel is Lucien's nephew by marriage.
(c) Nathaniel is Lucian's son-in-law.
(d) Nathaniel is Lucian's cousin's son.

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

4. 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 designer clothing and shoes.
(c) Their children's elementary school artwork.
(d) Their old issues of the New York Review.

5. What do Rose and Isaac ask Lucien to do when he calls Nathaniel after Nathaniel arrives in New York?
(a) Not tell Nathaniel that they asked Lucien to call.
(b) Tell Nathaniel to go back home.
(c) Get Nathaniel a job.
(d) Find Nathaniel a place to live.

6. What does Isaac do for a living?
(a) He makes vacuum cleaners.
(b) He repairs cars.
(c) He is a rabbi.
(d) He owns a deli.

7. What is the name of Lucien's assistant?
(a) Devahuti.
(b) Advika.
(c) Rashana.
(d) Sharmila.

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

9. Of all of the things that Nathaniel can see from Matsumoto's loft, which is most important to him?
(a) The Chrysler Building.
(b) The World Trade Center.
(c) The Statue of Liberty.
(d) The Empire State Building.

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

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

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

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

14. What does Nathaniel say history teaches us?
(a) If we do not study the past, we will inevitably repeat unhelpful patterns.
(b) Great people rise to prominence regardless of their circumstances.
(c) There are too many variables for humans to be effective at thinking ahead.
(d) Systems and institutions favor the powerful by their very nature.

15. 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.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is Russell's business relationship to Amity?

2. What does Lucien end up saying to his assistant on page 8 when he wants to give her a piece of advice?

3. Why is Lyle sad all of the time?

4. From the story's context, when must Charlie have died?

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

(see the answer keys)

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