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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. 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 sort through and forward Matsumoto's mail.
(c) They take care of Matsumoto's cats.
(d) They collect the rent from Matsumoto's other tenants.

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

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Why is Lyle sad all of the time?

2. What does Nathaniel suggest that people might be desperate enough to burn in the wake of a global computer failure?

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

4. How are Nathaniel and Lucien related?

5. To what does Nathaniel compare the sight of Manhattan from Matsumoto's loft?

Short Essay Questions

1. What phrase makes Lucien think about the frog and the boiling water, and why?

2. What is the meaning of the title of the section of the story called "Innocence"?

3. Why did Nathaniel's friends come to live with him?

4. What is the "Reunion" referred to in the title of the sixth section of the story?

5. Where are Nathaniel and his friends, in the narrative present, and what are they doing?

6. What qualities does Nathaniel have that worry his parents?

7. Describe Rose and Issac.

8. What is the "View" that the third section of the story is titled for, and why is it special?

9. How does the "View" referred to in the third section of the story change in its significance for Nathaniel between his arrival in New York and the narrative present?

10. Explain the non-event that "Nathaniel Recalls the Miracle" is centered on.

(see the answer keys)

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