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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. From what opera does Jing-Mei describe the “breasted girl with white makeup” singing from at the talent show?
(a) Madame Butterfly
(b) Guys and Dolls
(c) Les Miserables
(d) The Phantom of the Opera

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

4. After Jing-Mei’s hair debacle where it was cut off like a boy’s, what statement does she make about her feelings of the haircut?
(a) I hated the haircut and it made me feel like I would never live up to my mother’s expectations
(b) I liked the haircut and felt like I would now no longer be bullied in school
(c) I thought the haircut made me look like a villain from a Disney movie
(d) I liked the haircut and it made me actually look forward to my future fame

5. How does Jing-Mei say her academic career ended in “Two Kinds”?
(a) She earned a bachelor’s degree
(b) She dropped out of college
(c) She earned a law degree
(d) She earned a master’s degree

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

7. When Jing-Mei stands up after playing her piano solo at the talent show, she realizes what are shaking?
(a) Her ribs
(b) Her shoulders
(c) Her legs
(d) Her hands

8. One of the tests that Jing-Mei’s mother gave her as she attempted to lure out the prodigy in her daughter was predicting the daily temperatures in what three cities?
(a) Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles
(b) Seattle, Minneapolis, and New York
(c) Los Angeles, New York, and London
(d) New York, Paris, and London

9. As Jing-Mei walks back to her seat after her performance in the talent show, she overhears a little boy say to his mother, “That was awful.” What does the boy’s mother reply?
(a) She was terrible
(b) Shh. She’s right there
(c) Well, she certainly tried
(d) She was wonderful

10. What does Jing-Mei say she put the sweaters her mother knitted in after she died in the end of the story?
(a) A garbage bag
(b) An air-tight bag
(c) A wooden chest
(d) Moth-proof boxes

11. By the time that Jing-Mei is preparing to play in the talent recital, her parents have bought her what kind of secondhand piano?
(a) A Steinway upright
(b) A Förster upright
(c) A Steinway grand
(d) A Wurlitzer spinet

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

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

14. What answer does Jing-Mei give when her mother asks her early in the story, “What’s the capital of Finland?”
(a) Rockland
(b) Nairobi
(c) Omaha
(d) Lexington

15. Of what ethnicity is the little girl on The Ed Sullivan Show that Jing-Mei and her mother watch playing piano?
(a) Chinese
(b) Japanese
(c) Eastern European
(d) African

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Auntie Lindo’s daughter say matter-of-factly to Jing-Mei after her performance at the talent show?

2. When does Jing-Mei say her mother came to America?

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

4. When was the Magnuson Act signed into law?

5. Describing her mother’s reaction to her hurtful words, Jing-Mei says, “she backed out of the room, stunned, as if she were blowing away like” what?

(see the answer keys)

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