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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. 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) Old-timey piano music
(c) Black-and-white movie music
(d) Whispering music

2. 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) Hula Hoops
(b) Juggling balls
(c) Jump ropes
(d) Yo-yos

3. Jing-Mei says of Mr. Chong when she began piano lessons that “he must have been younger than I thought, since he” what?
(a) Lived with his mother and was not yet married
(b) Had no children and was not yet married
(c) Had two young children and a young wife
(d) Had sisters that were my mother’s age

4. How does Jing-Mei described her family’s kitchen table where she would sit after dinner with her mother during her childhood?
(a) Plywood
(b) Marble
(c) Oak
(d) Formica

5. What complaint does Jing-Mei’s mother make about the young piano prodigy that she watches on The Ed Sullivan Show?
(a) Play wrong notes. Chords are all off
(b) Play not too good, but has character
(c) Play wrong notes and smiles without meaning to
(d) Play note right, but doesn’t sound good! No singing sound

Short Answer Questions

1. Where does Jing-Mei find her exercise notes and secondhand music books at the end of the story?

2. What is the name of the street that Jing-Mei’s family lives on when she is a child?

3. What does Jing-Mei say she put the sweaters her mother knitted in after she died in the end of the story?

4. What word does Jing-Mei use in describing Mr. Chong’s silent instrumental compositions with a vague and dreamy character?

5. What word from the narrative means under a magical trance?

Short Essay Questions

1. When does Jing-Mei’s mother first introduce to her the concept of a child prodigy?

2. How does Jing-Mei describe her mother’s immigration to America in the opening of the story? What did she leave behind?

3. How do Jing-Mei’s feelings about her mother’s ambitions begin to change early in the story? What causes her feelings to change?

4. How does Jing-Mei feel about her mother’s ambitions for her at first when she is a child?

5. What does Jing-Mei overhear her mother saying about her to Auntie Lindo midway through the story?

6. How do Suyuan Woo’s actions in the story encourage the wrong responses from her daughter? What effects does this have on Jing-Mei?

7. What does Jing-Mei overhear her mother and Auntie Lindo talking about after she’s studied piano for a year?

8. How does the central conflict of the story begin to manifest in Jing-Mei’s mind following her revelation in the mirror?

9. What comment does Waverly Jong make to Jing-Mei after her performance at the talent show? How does this make Jing-Mei feel?

10. How does Jing-Mei describe her life as she passed from childhood to adulthood? In what ways does she say she disappointed her mother?

(see the answer keys)

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