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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

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

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

4. 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.

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

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

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

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

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

11. 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 Statue of Liberty.
(c) The World Trade Center.
(d) The Empire State Building.

12. 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.

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

14. 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 find another apartment for Nathaniel.
(c) He will put more energy into the gallery.
(d) He will try to think more kindly about Rose and Isaac.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Which character works for Itami Systems?

2. Which of the possible consequences of a global computer failure that Nathaniel mentions could be considered foreshadowing?

3. What does Nathaniel say history teaches us?

4. What does Nathaniel do with his spare time that his parents find worrisome?

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

(see the answer keys)

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