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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. When the narrator says that the road "undulated," what is being said of this road (12)?
(a) It varies in width.
(b) It abruptly ends.
(c) It curves sharply.
(d) It gently rises and falls.

2. What does Ivanovich feel is happening as the first night of the tour wears on?
(a) The other group members are starting to dislike Schramm.
(b) The others are melding together into one collective being.
(c) The others are becoming more tolerant of his eccentricities.
(d) The group leader is losing power to Schramm.

3. What technique is used in the phrase "toward a train lurking behind other trains"?
(a) Conceit.
(b) Hyperbole.
(c) Cacophony.
(d) Personification.

4. Who wrote the book that Ivanovich opens on the train?
(a) Tiutchev.
(b) Donne.
(c) Goethe.
(d) De Viau.

5. When Ivanovich falls asleep on the third day of the tour, how do the others wake him up?
(a) By throwing a sausage at him.
(b) By slapping him.
(c) By pouring water on him.
(d) By singing loudly in his ear.

6. Whom does the Bureau's song recommend should be "killed" by a walk in the countryside with "the good, the hearty guys" (9)?
(a) The loner.
(b) The outsider.
(c) The hermit.
(d) The artist.

7. When the man tells stories about his "philanderings," what is he talking about (5)?
(a) Stamp collecting.
(b) Getting very drunk with friends.
(c) Casual sexual relationships.
(d) Donations to charity.

8. Which of the following best characterizes the narrator's attitude toward the absurd process that Ivanovich is told he must follow to sell back the tickets?
(a) Skeptical.
(b) Scornful.
(c) Bemused.
(d) Matter-of-fact.

9. In the description of the "mother-of-pearl claws on his dirty toes," what is the man with whom Ivanovich spends the night being compared to (12)?
(a) A hidden gem.
(b) A statue.
(c) An animal.
(d) A laborer.

10. From context, what is the likely meaning of the word "dactyl" in "On the other side...towered, arising from dactyl to dactyl, an ancient black castle" (14)?
(a) A tower in the shape of a digit, like a toe or finger.
(b) A type of stone used in medieval constructions.
(c) An image found in a metrical foot of poetry.
(d) An architectural figure of a bird.

11. On page 19, to what does the narrator compare Ivanovich's return journey, away from the lake?
(a) A "cruel, demeaning prank."
(b) A "soul-shattering nightmare."
(c) A "sinister game."
(d) A "hideous fairy tale."

12. What word does the narrator say describes the appearance of "all creatures still unknown to us" (4)?
(a) "Cryptic."
(b) "Innocent."
(c) "Formidable."
(d) "Drowsy."

13. What relationship does Vasili Ivanovich have to the story's narrator?
(a) He is the man who was once in love with the narrator's wife.
(b) He is the narrator's brother-in-law.
(c) He is the narrator's former employee.
(d) He is a man whom the narrator met on a group tour.

14. One woman is described as "burlesque" (6). From the context, which is most likely true?
(a) She spends most of the trip making jokes.
(b) She is uncomfortably flirtatious.
(c) She seems like an exaggerated caricature.
(d) She works as an exotic dancer in Berlin.

15. Who is the author of "Cloud, Castle, Lake"?
(a) Leo Tolstoy.
(b) Vladimir Nabokov.
(c) Anton Chekhov.
(d) Ivan Turgenev

Short Answer Questions

1. At what time of the morning is Ivanovich supposed to report for the tour?

2. What detail is the narrator uncertain if he is remembering correctly?

3. What description does the narrator give of the train car on page 5?

4. The group leader is "lanky" (5). What does this mean is true about him?

5. Who hosted the charity ball where Ivanovich won the tour?

(see the answer keys)

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