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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which of the boys' bodies does Mary appear to be most interested in?
(a) Tom Crick.
(b) Terry Coe.
(c) Dick Crick.
(d) Freddie Parr.

2. What is the lesson about history that Tom Crick draws from the study of eel mating behavior?
(a) What human beings think of as major historical events makes little difference to other life on earth.
(b) The true future of mankind lies West of the Atlantic Ocean.
(c) The eel is much more adapted to life on earth than humans are.
(d) While humans die, some life forms like the eel seem to live forever.

3. What game are Tom Crick, Freddie Parr, Peter Baine, and Terry Coe playing with Mary Metcalf and Shirley Alford on the banks of the Hockwell Lode as Dick Crick looks on?
(a) Underwater hide and seek.
(b) A raucous game of catch.
(c) They ask each other silly riddles.
(d) A coy game of Show Me Yours, I'll Show You Mine.

4. Johannes Schmidt, whose theory about eels and their mating habits is considered the most accurate one, thought that eels mate where?
(a) The Gulf of Mexico.
(b) The Sargasso Sea.
(c) In river springs.
(d) The Arctic Ocean.

5. What medical condition is Tom afraid that Mary might have?
(a) Schizophrenia.
(b) Diabetes.
(c) Alzheimer's disease.
(d) Bipolar disorder.

6. What World War I battle was Tom's father injured in and saw his brother killed in earlier in the day?
(a) Marne.
(b) Ypres.
(c) Somme.
(d) Verdun.

7. Henry Crick, Tom's father, is obsessed with one question about Freddie's death that he repeats over and over again. What is it?
(a) Who killed Freddie?
(b) Could he have saved Freddie?
(c) Why did Freddie have to die?
(d) How did Freddie die?

8. What is the River Tom Crick describes at great length to explain how the landscape of the novel's setting is formed?
(a) The Cam.
(b) The Thames.
(c) The Tyne.
(d) The Ouse.

9. What tells Tom that he and Mary must finish their argument quickly because the park is about to close?
(a) The park-keeper's bell.
(b) The steady stream of dog owners towards the park gates.
(c) The gruff voice of the park warden asking others to leave.
(d) The sunset glistening on the duck pond.

10. What is one of the books Tom Crick reads that he finds in the trove of books collected by his great-aunts Louisa and Dora?
(a) A Tale of Two Cities.
(b) King Arthur and His Noble Knights.
(c) The Last of the Mohicans.
(d) Hereward the Wake.

11. What does Tom notice for the first time when Mary struggles with Freddie Parr's prank?
(a) That Terry Coe is afraid of eels.
(b) That Dick is interested in Mary and that Mary is interested in Dick.
(c) That Mary is ticklish.
(d) That Freddie Parr is a drunkard.

12. What does Ernest Atkinson's maid Jane Shaw think she saw in the old Atkinson townhouse as the brewery was burning?
(a) The ghost of Sarah Atkinson, shouting.
(b) A black cat with its tail on fire.
(c) Helen Atkinson laughing as she watches the brewery collapse from her window.
(d) Ernest Atkinson packing cans of leftover lighting fluid into a satchel.

13. The headmaster of the school where Tom Crick teaches history thinks Tom should retire from his job. Why?
(a) The headmaster does not like Tom Crick.
(b) All of the above.
(c) Tom Crick has stopped teaching the syllabus.
(d) History will be eliminated from the curriculum.

14. To what does Tom Crick compare the soil of the Fens?
(a) Pudding.
(b) An obese matron.
(c) Phlegm.
(d) Quicksand.

15. What about the scene at the Lode does NOT remind Tom of the later scene of Freddie Parr's death?
(a) A boat-hook lying on the riverbank.
(b) A bottle drifting in the water.
(c) Freddie Parr in the water.
(d) Dick standing on the wooden bridge.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the main fish that the Cricks and their neighbors catch for food?

2. Tom Crick's wife, Mary, has been sent to a mental institution. Why?

3. What sort of proof does Mary offer that Dick cannot be the father of her child?

4. What is the name of the ale Ernest Atkinson brews that seems to cause the end of any respect for him in Gildsey because it is too good?

5. What is the worst thing Tom Crick can imagine?

(see the answer keys)

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