1. What musical term from the story refers to a composition for one or two instruments, typically comprised of three or four movements in contrasting forms and keys?
(a) Bass
(b) Treble
(c) Scale
(d) Sonata

2. What does the piano symbolize in “Two Kinds”?
(a) Jing-Mei’s longing for cultural resonance
(b) Jing-Mei’s mother’s ambitions for her
(c) Jing-Mei’s love for her father
(d) Jing-Mei’s belief in a higher spiritual being

3. At the end of the story, Jing-Mei says, “After I had the piano tuned, I opened the lid and touched the keys.” How does she say it sounded?
(a) It sounded like my mother’s voice
(b) It sounded softer and more brittle than I remembered
(c) It sounded even richer than I remembered
(d) It sounded like there was a dying cat inside

4. What color does Jing-Mei say her mother knitted sweaters in, which were also “all the colors I hated”?
(a) Yellow, pink, and orange
(b) Green, blue, and yellow
(c) Red, white, and black
(d) Blue, red, and silver

5. Edvard Grieg was a composer and pianist from what country?
(a) England
(b) France
(c) Germany
(d) Norway

Short Answer Questions

1. When Jing-Mei has a revelation while staring at herself in the bathroom mirror as a child, she says, “I had new thoughts, willful thoughts, or rather thoughts willed with lots of” what?

2. What word from the story means coolly unconcerned, indifferent, or unexcited?

3. How do Jing-Mei and her parents travel home after the talent show?

4. What does Mr. Chong live in relation to Jing-Mei’s family when she’s growing up?

5. Of what ethnicity is the little girl on The Ed Sullivan Show that Jing-Mei and her mother watch playing piano?

(see the answer key)

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