1. What musical term in the story refers to the sounding of notes in a chord in rapid succession instead of simultaneously?”
(a) Bass
(b) Trill
(c) Arpeggio
(d) Sonata

2. Who is the only person applauding when Jing-Mei looks up from her curtsy at the talent show?
(a) Mr. Chong
(b) Jing-Mei’s mother
(c) Jing-Mei’s father
(d) Auntie Lindo

3. How do Jing-Mei and her parents travel home after the talent show?
(a) By bus
(b) By train
(c) By taxi
(d) By limousine

4. By the time that Jing-Mei is preparing to play in the talent recital, her parents have bought her what kind of secondhand piano?
(a) A Steinway grand
(b) A Wurlitzer spinet
(c) A Förster upright
(d) A Steinway upright

5. Jing-Mei says that as a child “sometimes the prodigy in me became impatient.” What did Jing-Mei’s inner prodigy tell her at this time?
(a) I’m dying of boredom. When are we going to do something fun?
(b) Tell her to stop making you do this. This is taking forever
(c) If I’m not on stage in a year, I’ll never get there
(d) If you don’t hurry up and get me out of here, I’m disappearing for good

Short Answer Questions

1. Jing-Mei describes the girl playing piano on The Ed Sullivan Show as taking a fancy sweep of a curtsy so that the fluffy skirt of her “dress cascaded slowly to the floor like the petals of” what?

2. Where does Jing-Mei find her exercise notes and secondhand music books at the end of the story?

3. What is the nickname that Auntie Lindo’s daughter is known by in the area where Jing-Mei grows up?

4. What does the piano symbolize in “Two Kinds”?

5. Where does Jing-Mei live while growing up?

(see the answer key)

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