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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

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

3. Where did Nathaniel live before he moved to New York?
(a) The Midwest.
(b) California.
(c) The Southwest.
(d) Minnesota.

4. 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 feel sad."
(b) "Don't worry."
(c) "Don't believe everything you hear."
(d) "Don't bother about the phones."

5. 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) Businesses desperately trying to teach their staffs how to do math without computerized cash registers.
(d) Preppers sealing their families into shelters underground.

6. After Charlie became ill, what did Lucien feel was happening to the world?
(a) It was burning down around him.
(b) It was all turning into paper.
(c) It was melting away into nothing.
(d) It was shattering like broken glass.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

15. 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.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Nathaniel say that ceremonial occasions remind us about?

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

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

4. What does Nathaniel say history teaches us?

5. How are Nathaniel and Lucien related?

(see the answer keys)

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