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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the narrator beginning to "lose" (24) in the present regarding his lover?
(a) The feeling of being with her.
(b) His love for her.
(c) His understanding of what he saw in her.
(d) HIs desire to see her again.

2. What is one of the "little questions" (25) the narrator began asking himself regarding his time with his lover?
(a) Why did she laugh at his jokes sometimes and not others.
(b) Why did she have the light on when he came to bed some nights and off others.
(c) Why did she become so distant over time.
(d) Why did she touch his arm when he spoke sometimes but not others.

3. As time passes, the narrator says thoughts of his lover are more in his ______ than his ______?
(a) Dreams, reality.
(b) Mind, body.
(c) Imagination, soul.
(d) Heart, head.

4. How did the narrator respond to the surprising question his lover asked him in bed one day?
(a) He told her to stop asking silly questions.
(b) He said a diet would not hurt.
(c) He said her body was beautiful.
(d) He said she should do whatever she wants.

5. What was the narrator unsure he would be able to do without his lover?
(a) Go on living.
(b) Get a good job.
(c) Go on more vacations.
(d) Save any money.

6. What word is used to describe the way the narrator's lover responded to his answer to the question she asked him in bed?
(a) Calmly.
(b) Intelligently.
(c) Quietly.
(d) Sharply.

7. How much was the plane ticket the narrator bought?
(a) $950.
(b) $600.
(c) $150.
(d) $1,000.

8. How is the narrator's lover's behavior described at the start of the story?
(a) She was often quiet and distant.
(b) She was loud and obnoxious.
(c) She was moody and mercurial.
(d) She was always smiling and singing.

9. What does the narrator feel he can do if he thinks of his time with his lover too much?
(a) Drive himself crazy.
(b) Relive it.
(c) Make it seem meaningless.
(d) Kill it.

10. What colors does the narrator use to describe his lover's hair when he recalls her looking up at him from the newspaper she was reading?
(a) Black, plum, dark brown.
(b) Light brown, red, gold.
(c) Dark brown, auburn, white.
(d) Golden, gray, red.

11. What else did the narrator see in his dreams beyond the dark frame of empty space?
(a) A garden.
(b) A bed.
(c) A house.
(d) A child.

12. What does the narrator say he kept dreaming about while with his lover?
(a) A building.
(b) A car.
(c) His lover.
(d) A doctor's office.

13. When the narrator describes watching his lover as she sleeps, what does he say that makes the reader know their time together is temporary?
(a) "She's next to me and isn't away from me like she will be later."
(b) "She is here today and will be gone tomorrow."
(c) "Our time together is as fleeting as the night."
(d) "She is by my side for the time being."

14. What is the "very clean white place" (24) the narrator recalls being with his lover?
(a) A spa.
(b) A coffee house.
(c) Their hotel room.
(d) A bar.

15. What "old" (22) thing does the narrator say he cannot look at without still feeling what he feels his lover?
(a) Restaurant or bookstore.
(b) Street or painting.
(c) Tree or rosebush.
(d) Car or pair of pants.

Short Answer Questions

1. What still surprises the narrator about his relationship at the start of the story?

2. What does the narrator say he becomes afraid of as distance grows between the time spent with his lover and the present?

3. What does the narrator note about his lover as he looks at her in bed when he first wakes?

4. What is the narrator staring at at the start of "Break it Down"?

5. The narrator describes that after watching his lover sleep he finally falls asleep "lightly" (23). Why?

(see the answer keys)

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