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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How many hours a day does Jing-Mei have access to the piano at Mr. Chong’s for practice when she first begins taking lessons?
(a) 2
(b) 1
(c) 4
(d) 3

2. Where did Jing-Mei’s mother abandon her first children, hoping for them to become adopted?
(a) On church steps
(b) In a ditch outside of town
(c) Under a barren tree
(d) In a church cemetery

3. Jing-Mei’s mother tells her when Jing-Mei resists taking piano lessons, “Who ask you be genius? Only ask you be” what?
(a) Prodigy
(b) Responsible
(c) Your best
(d) Passionate

4. Where does Jing-Mei describe the piano as standing in her parents’ living room at the end of the story?
(a) In front of the bay windows
(b) In front of the door to the kitchen
(c) In front of the staircase
(d) In front of the television

5. What is the nickname that Auntie Lindo’s daughter is known by in the area where Jing-Mei grows up?
(a) Chinatown’s Littlest “Chinatown’s Littlest Chinese Mah-jongg Champion
(b) Chinatown’s Littlest Chinese Checkers Champion
(c) Chinatown’s Littlest Chinese Swimming Star
(d) Chinatown’s Littlest Chinese Chess Champion

6. What word from the story mean to find fault in, blame, or censure?
(a) Confiscate
(b) Adulterate
(c) Reproach
(d) Tolerate

7. How old is the little girl on The Ed Sullivan Show that Jing-Mei and her mother watch playing piano?
(a) 9
(b) 3
(c) 12
(d) 16

8. Jing-Mei is to play a song from what Schumann opus at the talent show?
(a) Flower Piece
(b) Scenes from Childhood
(c) Album for the Young
(d) Butterflies

9. 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) Sonata
(b) Bass
(c) Scale
(d) Treble

10. How does Jing-Mei describe the secondhand piano that her parents bought for her?
(a) It was the eyesore of our household
(b) It was so ratty we kept it in the basement
(c) It was used like a kitchen table for years
(d) It was the showpiece of our living room

11. What refers to circular toys that are twirled around the waist, and that some of the children used at the talent show when Jing-Mei made her piano debut?
(a) Jump ropes
(b) Juggling balls
(c) Hula Hoops
(d) Yo-yos

12. How many days have passed since Jing-Mei and her mother watched The Ed Sullivan Show when Jing-Mei’s mother tells her that she will be taking piano lessons?
(a) 4
(b) 5
(c) 3
(d) 6

13. 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 love for music
(c) A need to punish me further
(d) A desire to not be shown up by their neighbors

14. What does Jing-Mei’s mother do to earn money for the family when Jing-Mei is a child?
(a) She teaches English
(b) She cleans houses
(c) She cooks at a hotel
(d) She teaches piano

15. How many days after the talent show is it when Jing-Mei is surprised that her mother insists she practice piano?
(a) 3
(b) 5
(c) 4
(d) 2

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Jing-Mei describe her school achievements in “Two Kinds”?

2. What does Jing-Mei say to defend the young piano player on The Ed Sullivan Show when her mother criticizes her performance?

3. What is the name of Jing-Mei’s mother in “Two Kinds”?

4. What does Jing-Mei’s mother trade with Mr. Chong so that Jing-Mei may take piano lessons from him?

5. What color does Jing-Mei say her mother knitted sweaters in, which were also “all the colors I hated”?

(see the answer keys)

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