View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Jing-Mei says in the end of the story that she had never asked her mother about her hope, “And that even worse, I never asked her what frightened me the most”. What is the question that so frightened Jing-Mei?
(a) Why she had left her children behind
(b) Why she wanted to hurt me
(c) Why she had given up hope
(d) Why she had believed in me

2. Where does Jing-Mei find her exercise notes and secondhand music books at the end of the story?
(a) In a box in the attic
(b) Under her mother’s bed
(c) In the piano bench
(d) In a notebook in the basement

3. Who does Jing-Mei tell her mother she wishes she were like as they argue about piano practice after the talent show?
(a) Her distant cousins
(b) Her great-grandmother
(c) Her first husband
(d) Her “dead” daughters

4. “Two Kinds” is a short story from Amy Tan’s book The Joy Luck Club. This collection of short stories revolves around the lives of Chinese immigrant women who form a club and play what game?
(a) Mah-jongg
(b) Bridge
(c) Chess
(d) Chinese checkers

5. Jing-Mei says that soon after her mother got the idea for her to be a Chinese Shirley Temple, she took her to a beauty school in what district?
(a) Potrero Hill
(b) Noe Valley
(c) The Mission district
(d) SoHo

6. Who performs first at the talent show where Jing-Mei makes her piano debut?
(a) The trombone players
(b) The youngest children
(c) The adults
(d) The oldest children

7. What composition does the piano prodigy play by Edvard Grieg on The Ed Sullivan Show as Jing-Mei and her mother watch?
(a) Anita’s Dance
(b) Pleading Child
(c) Perfectly Contended
(d) Simon’s Waltz

8. Jing-Mei is surprised after her “talent-show fiasco” that her mother did not do what?
(a) Slap her
(b) Ground her
(c) Yell at her
(d) Weep

9. 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

10. 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

11. When Jing-Mei’s mother asks her for the capital of Finland, Jing-Mei responds with the capital of what country in the beginning of the story?
(a) Great Britain
(b) France
(c) Australia
(d) Kenya

12. What is Jing-Mei’s last name in the story?
(a) Chong
(b) Woo
(c) Hsu
(d) Jong

13. The majority of the narrative of “Two Kinds” is related from what perspective?
(a) Fourth-person
(b) First-person
(c) Second-person
(d) Third-person

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. 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?

2. Auntie Lindo tells Jing-Mei’s mother that all day long she has no time to do anything but what, when she is bragging about her daughter?

3. When the instructor of the beauty school has to cut off Jing-Mei’s hair because of the bad perm, she tells Jing-Mei’s mother that what play is very popular these days?

4. At the talent show where Jing-Mei makes her piano debut, she describes an eleven-year-old boy who won first prize for what performance?

5. How old does Jing-Mei say she was when her mother told her “Of course you can be prodigy too” in the beginning of the story?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 692 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample