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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What kind of food did Aunt Habiba cure in the sun?
(a) Grapes.
(b) Figs.
(c) Peaches.
(d) Olives.

2. What did the teacher Lalla Tam say about having debts?
(a) Let others repay your debts.
(b) Debts were a nuisance.
(c) A good Muslim always paid her debts.
(d) Debts could be left to themselves.

3. When Mernissi went home from school to have lunch, what animal did she like to hug in the street?
(a) Goat.
(b) Dog.
(c) Cat.
(d) Donkey.

4. What kind of bird did Chama and Mernissi's mother embroider on Chama's red silk qamis?
(a) Hawk.
(b) Sparrow.
(c) Peacock.
(d) Blue bird.

5. What did Mernissi say was the cure for hem?
(a) Beauty and quiet.
(b) Sleep.
(c) Eating.
(d) Taking medicine.

6. How many times did Mina dance during the year?
(a) Once.
(b) Whenever she felt like it.
(c) Every week.
(d) Twice a month.

7. When Mernissi wanted information about how to do the love glance from Malika, what did Malika want for payment?
(a) Olives.
(b) Croissants.
(c) Figs.
(d) Cookies.

8. Who came to the terrace to look at the Bennis girls?
(a) Grandmothers of young men.
(b) The young men of the house.
(c) Teachers looking for artist models.
(d) Young girls wanting to learn to dance.

9. Who embroidered a big green bird with golden wings?
(a) Fatima.
(b) Aunt Habiba.
(c) Malika.
(d) Chama.

10. What was the official means of access to the forbidden terrace?
(a) Elevator.
(b) Ladder.
(c) Window.
(d) Stairs.

11. What book tells the story of Princess Budar?
(a) Tales of Arabian Knights.
(b) A Thousand and One Nights.
(c) Grimm's Fairy Tales.
(d) The Lives of Egyptian Feminists.

12. What does Mernissi say was the turning point in her relationship with her mother?
(a) When she turned eighteen.
(b) When she learned about menstruation.
(c) When she was twenty-one.
(d) When she left the harem for good.

13. How many children did Ahmed have?
(a) Two.
(b) Five.
(c) One.
(d) Seven.

14. What did Mernissi's father organize a crusade against in "American Cigarettes"?
(a) Romance novels.
(b) Divorce.
(c) Chewing gum and Kool cigarettes.
(d) Western clothing.

15. What kind of classes did Mernissi's mother want to take at the neighborhood school?
(a) Literature.
(b) Literacy.
(c) Science.
(d) Mathematics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did Mernissi want her father to have made for her when she sang nationalist songs for her grandmother?

2. What reason does Mernissi give for why fresh olives cannot be eaten?

3. Why did Mernissi smuggle kohl from her mother's vanity table for Samir?

4. When Chama listened to feminist programs on Radio Cairo, what did she say about her generation of women?

5. What kind of oil does Mernissi's mother put in Mernissi's hair to tame her unruly locks?

(see the answer keys)

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