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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How does Makina characterize the shift in the people’s language in America?
(a) Self-defensive.
(b) Assertive.
(c) Defiant.
(d) Nurturing.

2. What would Makina’s brother keep at the end of the deployment?
(a) His military gear.
(b) The person’s books.
(c) The family’s house.
(d) The person’s identity.

3. What is the first thing Makina thinks when she sees her brother?
(a) That her brother looks tired.
(b) That this person looks a lot like her brother.
(c) That her brother should come home with her.
(d) That her brother looks so grown up in uniform.

4. What does Makina’s brother’s second note say?
(a) "Send money so I can come home."
(b) "I’m fine, I have a job."
(c) "I’m in danger, help."
(d) "I’m going to send money with my next letter."

5. Makina says that the language she hears in the U.S. contains both ancient memory and what other trait?
(a) The losses of the present generation.
(b) The wonderment of a new people.
(c) The fear of the culture that is already replacing that ancient world.
(d) The meanings of a generation yet to be born.

6. What does Makina’s brother say his experience of war mostly consisted of?
(a) Long periods of boredom.
(b) A lot of pointless drilling.
(c) Sustained periods of terror.
(d) Long weeks of technical training.

7. What does Makina not see in the city to tell her that it is a city?
(a) Shopping malls.
(b) Central plazas.
(c) Business districts.
(d) Residential neighborhoods.

8. How does Makina’s brother indicate that he wants to leave to talk to her?
(a) He points out the door and follows her.
(b) He tells her let’s go outside.
(c) He walks out and holds the door so she can follow.
(d) He takes her arm.

9. Which suburb does Makina need to visit next?
(a) The one with the museum.
(b) The one with the zoo.
(c) The one with the petroleum refinery.
(d) The one with the prison.

10. Where does Makina hear a voice she recognizes?
(a) On the bus.
(b) In the abyss.
(c) In the marketplace.
(d) In a restaurant.

11. What part of language is Makina’s brother teaching the fellow soldier who talks to him and Makina?
(a) The conditional tense.
(b) The past tense.
(c) The future tense.
(d) The optative mood.

12. What does Makina’s brother’s third note say?
(a) "Send money, I’m broke."
(b) "I have a job, now."
(c) "I’m going to send money soon."
(d) "Stop asking if I’m okay."

13. How many times does Makina think she has arrived, only to find out that she has to keep going?
(a) Eight.
(b) Two.
(c) Four.
(d) Six.

14. What kind of language do Mexicans speak on the other side?
(a) A purer tongue.
(b) A bastardized tongue.
(c) An intermediary tongue.
(d) A futuristic tongue.

15. What traits make the people’s language in America similar to Makina herself?
(a) Malleability, permeability.
(b) Intensity, passion.
(c) Durability, obduracy.
(d) Formlessness, potential.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which statue does Makina need to look for next?

2. What does Makina say she wants to do when the man tells her that the family who lived there moved?

3. Whose place does Makina’s brother take in the army?

4. What did the person whose place Makina’s brother is taking ask him?

5. What is the advantage of a polyglot language, in Makina’s eyes?

(see the answer keys)

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