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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. The Japanese cartoon Fatty and Skinny makes Sedaris sad because
(a) Skinny always demands money from Fatty.
(b) Skinny is unable to meet Fatty's demands, and ends up friendless.
(c) Fatty is unable to meet Skinny's demands and loses his friendship.
(d) Fatty always rejects Skinny in the end.

2. Sedaris' attempt to recruit his guitar teacher for his jingle-singing act results in
(a) Comaraderie.
(b) Rejection.
(c) Understanding.
(d) Acceptance.

3. Sedaris questions
(a) His own inability to leave the toilet unflushed, thereby assuming the guilt.
(b) His own inability to go to the bathroom comfortably in public
(c) His own need for cleanliness.
(d) Others inability to feel shame.

4. In the end, Sedaris' authority is undermined when
(a) He allows a student to teach the class.
(b) He admits that he has never been published.
(c) He admits how much money he is paid to teach the class
(d) He refuses to answer a student's question about his salary.

5. One aspect of the food that disturbs Sedaris is
(a) That it is laid out in a horizontal line.
(b) That it is stacked vertically on his plate.
(c) That it is arranged to look like a face on his plate.
(d) That it is piled in an unrecognizable heap.

6. Instead of the performance piece in the twelfth "moment," Sedaris seems to admire
(a) The courage of the performer.
(b) The metaphors apparent in the performance.
(c) The beauty of the ordinary world around him.
(d) The number of people attending the performance.

7. Sedaris suggests his brother is radically different from his other siblings because
(a) He is more refined than they are.
(b) He is a North Carolina native with gentlemanly Southern values.
(c) He is the oldest, and therefore the most conservative.
(d) He is much younger, and a North Carolina native.

8. At the end of the essay, Miss Sampson tricks Sedaris by
(a) Getting him to say "I'm sorry."
(b) Forcing him to speak in front of the class.
(c) Getting him to overcome his lisp.
(d) Making him continue to take speech therapy.

9. Sedaris' mother might be described as
(a) An inventor.
(b) A theorist.
(c) Visionary.
(d) Pragmatic.

10. What adds to Sedaris' tension while he is in the bathroom?
(a) His friend keeps asking him what he is doing in there.
(b) He needs to use the toilet himself.
(c) He can hear the others beginning to talk about him outside.
(d) His friend keeps knocking on the door to hurry him up.

11. Miss Sampson asks the previous question in order to
(a) Provoke an argument about football.
(b) Determine whether or not she will like Sedaris.
(c) Get Sedaris talking so she might hear his lisp.
(d) Trick Sedaris into revealing his disdain for sports.

12. Miss Sampson believes Sedaris lisps because
(a) He never learned to speak correctly.
(b) He has a lazy tongue.
(c) He wants to stand out among other students.
(d) He cannot hear the sound of his own voice.

13. Sedaris is dismayed when he visits The Plaza because
(a) He is intimidated by the New Yorkers.
(b) He finds it overrun with tourists like Bonnie.
(c) He is completely underdressed.
(d) Bonnie has been humiliated by New York women.

14. Sedaris justifies viewing soap operas in class by
(a) Arguing that soap operas taught attention to character.
(b) Creating a writing assignment in which students predicted upcoming events.
(c) Creating an assignment in which students wrote their own soap operas.
(d) Arguing that soap operas were an eduring fom of writing.

15. Sedaris wonders at the way Paul and his father
(a) Continue to live under the same roof.
(b) Have learned to endure one another.
(c) Communicate so well.
(d) Avoid one another.

Short Answer Questions

1. During his experience as a mover, Sedaris begins to change because

2. Before leaving for The Plaza, Sedaris warns Bonnie that

3. During their last meeting together, Sedaris learns that Miss Sampson

4. Rather than sports, Sedaris states that he and his fellow speech therapy students were more interested in

5. How does Sedaris prepare to teach his workshop?

(see the answer keys)

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