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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What food does the guide in Mexico City name as being at the center of Mexican cuisine?
(a) Beans.
(b) Pork.
(c) Chilis.
(d) Tortillas.

2. What crucial question did Arthur realize he had never asked Robert during their trip to Mexico?
(a) What are your intentions?
(b) Where is your wife?
(c) Do you love me?
(d) Why me?

3. Why does the literary escort fail to connect with Arthur Less even though they are both within the hotel lobby?
(a) He has a newspaper in front of his face.
(b) She has never seen his picture.
(c) She believes Arthur Less to be a woman.
(d) He is seated in a hidden alcove.

4. Besides long, which adjective is used by the narrator to describe Arthur Less's nose?
(a) Beakish.
(b) Sensible.
(c) Narrow.
(d) Patrician.

5. For whom is the stadium in Parque Mexico named?
(a) Cesar Chavez.
(b) Englebert Humperdink.
(c) Charles Lindbergh.
(d) Oscar Zeta Acosta.

6. For how long has Arthur Less been in New York at the novel's opening?
(a) On month.
(b) Three days.
(c) One week.
(d) Fewer than twenty-four hours.

7. What color is the flesh of the beaked parrot-fish Arthur sees in the Mexican market?
(a) Black.
(b) Blue.
(c) Pink.
(d) White.

8. The narrator describes the ride home from the tour of Mexico City as "half as charming" (61) as the ride there, due to being what?
(a) Filled with twice as many people.
(b) Ten times slower.
(c) Ten times hotter.
(d) Twice as smelly.

9. Which country is the last one on Arthur Less's itinerary?
(a) Italy.
(b) Japan.
(c) China.
(d) France.

10. While Arthur had assumed that Mexico City would be like Phoenix on a smoggy day, what city does he say it is actually like once he sees it?
(a) Glasgow.
(b) Bangkok.
(c) Barcelona.
(d) Madrid.

11. With what objects does Arthur always travel that he thinks of as his portable gym?
(a) Rubber bands.
(b) Bricks.
(c) Jump ropes.
(d) Barbells.

12. What lie does Arthur tell to his escort upon his arrival in Mexico?
(a) That he is rich.
(b) That he has never been to Mexico before.
(c) That he has read the escort's book of poetry.
(d) That he has won a Pulitzer Prize.

13. When Arthur receives a wedding invitation from Freddy a few months after they stop seeing one another, to whom is Freddy engaged?
(a) Thomas Dennis.
(b) Dennis Raglan.
(c) Dennis Thomas.
(d) Thomas Mars.

14. What causes Marian to be unable to attend the festival in Mexico City where she had been scheduled to appear with Arthur?
(a) She breaks her hip.
(b) She gets the flu.
(c) Her plane is delayed.
(d) Robert has a stroke.

15. In what country had Arthur Less bought his signature blue suit?
(a) Vietnam.
(b) China.
(c) Japan.
(d) Cambodia.

Short Answer Questions

1. Though the narrator says that all Arthur Less has "managed to grow is a gentle sense of himself, akin to the transparent carapace of a soft-shelled crab" (6), what event is stated to still have the ability to hurt him?

2. On what day of the Mexican festival is Arthur scheduled to speak?

3. In what city does Arthur Less currently live?

4. What drug did Arthur and Robert take together during their trip to Mexico?

5. What job does Peter Hunt perform for Arthur Less?

(see the answer keys)

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