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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Jing-Mei’s mother trade with Mr. Chong so that Jing-Mei may take piano lessons from him?
(a) Home-cooked meals
(b) Medical advice
(c) Housecleaning services
(d) Dog-walking services

2. Jing-Mei says of Mr. Chong when she began piano lessons that “he must have been younger than I thought, since he” what?
(a) Had no children and was not yet married
(b) Had sisters that were my mother’s age
(c) Lived with his mother and was not yet married
(d) Had two young children and a young wife

3. What illness did Jing-Mei’s mother contract while trying to flee China?
(a) Pneumonia
(b) Malaria
(c) Gangrene
(d) Dysentery

4. During what years did The Ed Sullivan Show air on television?
(a) 1960-1970
(b) 1941-1960
(c) 1948-1971
(d) 1929-1949

5. What does Jing-Mei’s mother tell her she looks like after she’s been given a bad perm at the beauty school?
(a) Negro Chinese
(b) Raggedy Anne
(c) A Cupie Doll
(d) An orphan

6. Jing-Mei says in the end of the story that “unlike my mother, I did not believe I could” what?
(a) Be talented or worthy
(b) Overcome my heritage
(c) Be anything I wanted to be
(d) Be free

7. When Jing-Mei refuses to practice piano after the talent show, she tells her mother, “Why should I? I’m not” what?
(a) You
(b) A genius
(c) Talented
(d) Your daughter

8. What is Jing-Mei doing on the day when her mother insists she go practice at the piano after the talent show fiasco?
(a) Watching TV
(b) Writing in her journal
(c) Calling a friend
(d) Listening to the radio

9. “Two Kinds” is a short story that was initially published in what periodical in February 1989?
(a) The Atlantic
(b) Reader’s Digest
(c) The San Franciscan
(d) The New Yorker

10. Jing-Mei describes sitting down nightly with her mother to examine stories of child prodigies when she was a child. The first of these stories is about a boy who knows all the state capitals and most of the European countries at what age?
(a) 5
(b) 2
(c) 12
(d) 3

11. When Jing-Mei’s mother enrolls her in piano lessons, Jing-Mei says, “I can’t play the piano. And even if I could, I wouldn’t” what?
(a) Take lessons from Mr. Chong
(b) Play for you
(c) Go on TV if you paid me a million dollars
(d) Be able to play it well enough for your expectations

12. After Jing-Mei’s performance at the talent show, she says, “We could have escaped during intermission.” What does she say “must have anchored my parents to their chairs”?
(a) Pride and some strange sense of honor
(b) A need to punish me further
(c) A desire to not be shown up by their neighbors
(d) A love for music

13. What is the name of the street that Jing-Mei’s family lives on when she is a child?
(a) Jefferson Street
(b) Sacramento Street
(c) Oxford Street
(d) Roosevelt Street

14. Who founded the Ripley’s Believe It or Not franchise?
(a) Robert Ripley
(b) Alexander Ripley
(c) James Ripley
(d) George Ripley

15. How long ago does Jing-Mei say she sent a tuner to her parents’ apartment to recondition the piano at the end of the story?
(a) A week ago
(b) A month ago
(c) Two days ago
(d) A year ago

Short Answer Questions

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?

2. What musical term in the story refers to the sounding of notes in a chord in rapid succession instead of simultaneously?”

3. What is the name of Auntie Lindo’s daughter in the story?

4. What similarity does Amy Tan share with Jing-Mei from “Two Kinds”?

5. What does Jing-Mei’s mother do to earn money for the family when Jing-Mei is a child?

(see the answer keys)

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