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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What do Tom and Mary hope will happen as they drive back to the supermarket to return the child?
(a) That they can find the mother and return the child quietly.
(b) That the mother will let them keep the child.
(c) That the mother will have simply disappeared.
(d) That the mother will not have noticed that the child has gone.

2. What is the historical fact that Tom says "history scarcely finds time to mention"?
(a) That King Arthur was not English at all, but rather Welsh.
(b) That on the eve of the French Revolution Louis XVI mourned his firstborn.
(c) That 55,000 German civilians died in the fire bombing Hamburg by the Allies.
(d) That Marie Antoinette never said the phrase, "let them eat cake."

3. Harry feels ridiculous in Tom's presence, because while Tom read history books Harry did what?
(a) Hunted waterfowl.
(b) Doted on Dick.
(c) Drunk himself to sleep.
(d) Talked to chickens.

4. While Martha locks herself in with Mary, she asks Tom to do what outside?
(a) Pluck a duck.
(b) Pray to the Virgin Mary.
(c) Chop firewood.
(d) Stand guard.

5. What is NOT one of the synonyms for phlegm used in chapter 52?
(a) Mucus.
(b) Snot.
(c) Slime.
(d) Viscous semi-fluid.

6. Tom compares Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette to what at the eve of the French Revolution?
(a) Him and Mary.
(b) The French people's father and wicked step-mother.
(c) Two scared rabbits trapped in a hole.
(d) Adam and Eve on the day the serpent came.

7. Whom does Helen Crick ask to see when she is on her deathbed?
(a) Dick.
(b) Tom.
(c) Harry.
(d) Ernest.

8. What is NOT one of the emblems of by-gone years that Tom includes in his list of memories he wants Mary to recall?
(a) Two crossed ears of barley on ships' bows.
(b) Steam trains.
(c) Fairy tales.
(d) Fireworks over the Fens.

9. What is the title Ernest Atkinson gives Dick in the letter?
(a) Earl of Gildsey.
(b) An expletive.
(c) Saviour of the World.
(d) Most Beloved Grandson.

10. What does Tom think is a superstition people believed in "once upon a time"?
(a) That history matters.
(b) The end of the world.
(c) The goodness of human kind.
(d) God.

11. What to Tom and Mary ask Martha to help them with?
(a) Poison for Dick.
(b) An abortion for Mary.
(c) Finding a key to Dick's chest.
(d) A way to save Mary's baby.

12. Why does Tom Crick apologize to Price outside the pub?
(a) Tom thinks he wasted the students' time in his history class.
(b) Tom shouts at the barman and has them both kicked out of the pub.
(c) Tom doesn't really know either.
(d) Tom promised Price a lift but now is too drunk to drive.

13. Price tells Tom Crick of his nightmare about:
(a) A wailing woman in a supermarket.
(b) A black dog outside his window.
(c) A nuclear holocaust.
(d) Tom Crick dying on the last day of class.

14. What is not one of the things Tom does in the evenings when he alone?
(a) Drink heavily.
(b) Smoke cigarettes.
(c) Cry.
(d) Grade papers.

15. What does Price shout when Tom Crick stands up to give his farewell speech?
(a) No cuts! Keep Crick!
(b) Shut up! Get out!
(c) All teachers are fascists!
(d) History is dead!

Short Answer Questions

1. Tom thinks that progress leads...

2. When Harry Crick hears that Mary told her father that Tom is the father of her aborted child, what does he tell Tom they should do?

3. What is the mother's reaction to the Cricks when they return the baby?

4. What is Tom Crick's response to Mary's claim that God speaks to her.

5. What is the catastrophe that hits Europe in January 1937?

(see the answer keys)

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