View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How does Jing-Mei say she felt every time she saw the piano in her parents’ living room at the end of the story?
(a) Proud
(b) Sad
(c) Ashamed
(d) Angry

2. 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 softer and more brittle than I remembered
(b) It sounded like there was a dying cat inside
(c) It sounded even richer than I remembered
(d) It sounded like my mother’s voice

3. What does Jing-Mei say she never really did while she practiced for her talent show?
(a) Worry about how she looked while playing
(b) Connect with the music that flowed through her
(c) Listened to what she was playing
(d) Think about anything other than the music

4. What is symbolized by the second song that Jing-Mei finds in her piano workbook at the end of the story?
(a) The inner anguish she suffered as a child
(b) Her mother’s ambitions for her
(c) The inner peace she’s found in her life
(d) The love she had for her father

5. What is the neighborhood called where Jing-Mei’s family lives when she’s a child?
(a) Little Italy
(b) Chinatown
(c) SoHo
(d) Nob Hill

6. How does Jing-Mei describe Auntie Lindo’s smile when she looks out at the audience before beginning her piano solo at the talent show?
(a) Slivery
(b) Terse and comical
(c) Broad and happy
(d) Stiff-lipped

7. By what name does Jing-Mei refer to Mr. Chong’s mother as in the story?
(a) Beverly Chong
(b) Witch Chong
(c) The Wolf
(d) Old Lady Chong

8. At what time does Jing-Mei’s mother insist that Jing-Mei begin her piano practice following the talent show fiasco?
(a) 7
(b) 4
(c) 3
(d) 6

9. 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) Noe Valley
(b) Potrero Hill
(c) The Mission district
(d) SoHo

10. 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 television
(b) In front of the bay windows
(c) In front of the door to the kitchen
(d) In front of the staircase

11. When was author Amy Tan born?
(a) 1940
(b) 1965
(c) 1911
(d) 1952

12. How many sons does Auntie Lindo have in the story?
(a) 4
(b) 2
(c) 1
(d) 3

13. Where does Jing-Mei live while growing up?
(a) Los Angeles, California
(b) Sacramento, California
(c) San Francisco, California
(d) Oakland, California

14. The majority of the narrative of “Two Kind” is related in what tense?
(a) Past tense
(b) Future-possessive tense
(c) Future tense
(d) Present tense

15. Jing-Mei describes her childhood ambitions in the beginning of the story by comparing herself to “Cinderella stepping from her pumpkin carriage with” what type of music “filling the air”?
(a) Sparkly cartoon music
(b) Black-and-white movie music
(c) Whispering music
(d) Old-timey piano music

Short Answer Questions

1. 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?

2. What answer does Jing-Mei give when her mother asks her early in the story, “What’s the capital of Finland?”

3. 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?

4. What does Jing-Mei promise herself when she has the revelation while staring in the bathroom mirror as a child?

5. Where did Jing-Mei’s mother abandon her first children, hoping for them to become adopted?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 653 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample