View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. 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) 6
(b) 5
(c) 4
(d) 3

2. What color dress does Jing-Mei wear for her piano debut at the talent show?
(a) White
(b) Red
(c) Yellow
(d) Blue

3. When Jing-Mei has a revelation while staring at herself in the bathroom mirror as a child, how does she describe the girl who is staring back at her?
(a) Broken, ashamed
(b) Confused, lost
(c) Soft, radiant
(d) Angry, powerful

4. What word does Jing-Mei use in describing Mr. Chong’s silent instrumental compositions with a vague and dreamy character?
(a) Arpeggio
(b) Reverie
(c) Trill
(d) Staccato

5. How does Jing-Mei describe Mr. Chong’s eyes as always looking when she began piano lessons with him?
(a) Sprightly and bright
(b) Dark and mysterious
(c) Daunting and scary
(d) Tired and sleepy

6. What does the phrase “Ni kan” translate to, according to the narrator?
(a) You watch
(b) Call me
(c) Go outside
(d) Listen closely

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

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

9. How old is the boy at the talent show that is described as wearing a fake moustache and doing a magic show?
(a) 10
(b) 12
(c) 16
(d) 18

10. Jing-Mei describes her mother having given her a Bible page to study and then report everything she could remember when she was a child. What does Jing-Mei tell her mother is all she can recall from the passage?
(a) For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith
(b) Now Jehoshaphat had riches and honor in abundance
(c) And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose
(d) In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth

11. What literary term refers to a short impressionistic scene that focuses on one moment or gives a trenchant impression about a character, idea, setting, or object?
(a) Vignette
(b) Prelude
(c) Parable
(d) Entrenchment

12. What does Jing-Mei’s mother die from?
(a) Tuberculosis
(b) A car accident
(c) Cancer
(d) A brain aneurysm

13. What does Mr. Chong live in relation to Jing-Mei’s family when she’s growing up?
(a) Next door to Jing-Mei’s apartment on the second floor
(b) On the top floor of the apartment building
(c) On the first floor of the apartment building
(d) In the basement of the apartment building

14. Of her lack of ambitions in music, Jing-Mei says “I was so determined not to try, not to be anybody different that I learned to play only the most ear-splitting preludes, the most discordant” what?
(a) Waltzes
(b) Soliloquies
(c) Hymns
(d) Sonatas

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

Short Answer Questions

1. When Jing-Mei was helping her father get things in order after Jing-Mei’s mother died, she says she found “some old Chinese silk dresses, the kind with” what?

2. How many days after the talent show is it when Jing-Mei is surprised that her mother insists she practice piano?

3. Jing-Mei says in the end of the story that “unlike my mother, I did not believe I could” what?

4. 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?

5. Jing-Mei says that Mr. Chong would have her curve her hand around what object and then keep that shape while playing chords?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 657 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample