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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In what modern kind of text does the narrator explore the use of onomatopoeia and mimetic language?
(a) Pop songs.
(b) Video games.
(c) Movies.
(d) Comics.

2. What is Kiyoshi Manda's job?
(a) Social worker.
(b) Homicide detective.
(c) Emergency room physician.
(d) Firefighter.

3. What is Kyoko's brother's reaction when Kazu mentions his mother's name?
(a) He is confused and sad.
(b) He is startled and angry.
(c) He is stoic and detached.
(d) He is amused and intrigued.

4. What amuses Kazu and Kyoko about Miki's backpack?
(a) Miki has decorated it with drawings of anime characters.
(b) Miki is wearing it even though school is not yet in session.
(c) It is a color traditionally not worn by small children.
(d) Miki is wearing it upside-down and backwards.

5. Which is the best description of Kazu's appearance?
(a) Strikingly beautiful.
(b) Intriguingly exotic.
(c) Youthful and unformed.
(d) Pretty but nondescript.

6. Which author is quoted near the beginning of Chapter I, "Best Friends"?
(a) Dostoevsky.
(b) Dickens.
(c) Soyinka.
(d) Hemingway.

7. What is the name of the time-traveling café?
(a) Auld Lang Syne.
(b) Hakuna Matata.
(c) Funiculi Funicula.
(d) Que Sera Sera.

8. On page 36, as soon as Gohtaro presses the record button, what does Shuichi say?
(a) "To Haruka, twenty-two years from now."
(b) "Don't worry, everything's okay."
(c) "You know...you've always been a terrible liar."
(d) "This is very strange, Gohtaro."

9. Besides a love of insects, what does the narrator say links Japanese culture to the other culture discussed in the opening of "Mother and Son"?
(a) Language features.
(b) Pottery techniques.
(c) Traditional foods.
(d) Traditional etiquette.

10. What does Miki's conversation with Kyoko about Mrs. Kinuyo convey about Miki's character?
(a) Miki is a funny and eccentric child who seems to live in a fantasy world.
(b) Miki is good-natured and bright, but can be a bit sneaky.
(c) Miki is a shy and polite child with an even temperament.
(d) Miki is sociable and curious, but perhaps a little too blunt.

11. What is Shuichi's primary response to seeing the camera that Gohtaro has brought with him?
(a) Shuichi is suspicious about Gohtaro wanting to record him.
(b) Shuichi refuses to believe that the object is a camera.
(c) Shuichi is impressed with the technology.
(d) Shuichi is jealous that Gohtaro can afford such things.

12. What reason does Kyoko give for being so pleased that Kazu has a boyfriend?
(a) She thinks that Kazu will be a wonderful mother someday.
(b) She has often been concerned that Kazu leads a lonely life.
(c) Her mother often expressed a wish that Kazu be happily married.
(d) Her own marriage is her greatest source of happiness.

13. What is distinctive about the taste of the coffee served at the café?
(a) It is bitter and burnt-tasting.
(b) It tastes like chocolate.
(c) It is sour and acidic.
(d) It tastes like almonds.

14. What does Kyoko believe about her brother not attending their mother's funeral?
(a) She wonders if the information reached him in time.
(b) She is worried that something has happened to him.
(c) She is concerned that he is too depressed to leave home.
(d) She thinks he was too angry at her to attend.

15. What causes most potential customers to lose interest in the café's ability to send people back in time?
(a) They do not have the patience to wait as long as necessary for the time-traveling seat to be available.
(b) They are disappointed that they will not be able to change anything about the present.
(c) They find that the hidden cost of going back in time is too much to bear.
(d) They realize that they will not be able to follow all of the café's rules.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is Kazu's relationship to Miki's father?

2. What new café rule does the reader learn about in "Mother and Son"?

3. What is unusual about the coffee that Kazu pours for Gohtaro?

4. What is the title of the book that the woman in the white dress used to read?

5. Besides the obvious age differences, what is the only thing that has changed in the café when Gohtero returns to the past?

(see the answer keys)

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