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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why did the neighborhood alarms often go unanswered after many had them installed?
(a) They could not tell whose house it was coming from.
(b) Kids would set them off for fun.
(c) They were often on vacation.
(d) Pets were setting them off.

2. According to the narrator's tale, under what conditions were people who lived in the city allowed in the suburbs?
(a) As teachers and secretaries.
(b) As doctors and lawyers.
(c) As housemaids and gardeners.
(d) As nannies and drivers.

3. Who lives in the home the narrator describes at the start of her story?
(a) An old woman and her adult son.
(b) A single mother and her child.
(c) A man, and a woman and their son.
(d) A father and his son.

4. What were the Chopi and Tsonga people the narrator says may have made the wooden instrument she describes when discussing her heart beating?
(a) Burglars.
(b) Migrant miners.
(c) Farmers.
(d) Musicians.

5. What does the narrator stare at in her bed as she listens to the sounds in her house?
(a) Her gun.
(b) Her reflection in the mirror.
(c) The floor.
(d) The door.

6. What are the man and woman warned against doing as they start their lives together?
(a) Taken anyone in off the street.
(b) Having a child.
(c) Living in the suburbs.
(d) Getting a pool.

7. Who is said to have offered a warning to the man and woman when they started their life together?
(a) The man's mother.
(b) The neighbors.
(c) The town councilor.
(d) The woman's father.

8. What game did the little boy like to play after they installed a speaker at the gates of their home?
(a) Tag.
(b) Hide and seek.
(c) Cops and robbers.
(d) Telephone.

9. What adjective is used to describe the gardener in the narrator's tale?
(a) Attentive.
(b) Itinerant.
(c) Elegant.
(d) Patient.

10. What woke the narrator in the night at the start of the story?
(a) A rainstorm.
(b) Her husband.
(c) The phone ringing.
(d) A creaking sound in her house.

11. Where were the riots said to be in the tale the narrator tells herself?
(a) In her mind.
(b) In a far away land.
(c) In the city.
(d) In another country.

12. Where did the man and woman get the plaque that said "YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED" (25) when they first began their life together?
(a) The Neighborhood Watch.
(b) The woman's father.
(c) The man's mother.
(d) A local gift-shop.

13. What type of people are said to live in the city in the tale the narrator tells herself?
(a) Artistic people.
(b) People of a higher caste.
(c) People of another color.
(d) Religious people.

14. What does the narrator do when she is unable to go back to sleep?
(a) She writes a letter.
(b) She reads a book.
(c) She eats a sandwich.
(d) She tells herself a story.

15. What did "a certain novelist" say every writer "ought to write at least once" (23)?
(a) A thriller.
(b) A screenplay.
(c) A haiku.
(d) A children's story.

Short Answer Questions

1. What begins to happen once the riots in the city are suppressed?

2. Who had recommended the gardener to the man and his wife?

3. Where does the story the narrator tells herself take place?

4. What does the narrator realize is the reason for the creaking sound in her house?

5. What does the man tell his wife to ease her fears the people from the city will come to their house in the suburbs?

(see the answer keys)

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