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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What detail about Anna does the narrator note was not mentioned in the newspaper accounts of the disaster?
(a) She was badly injured.
(b) She was pregnant.
(c) She was Harold's wife.
(d) She was blind.

2. What does the narrator suggest may have been Harold's final thought as he fell into the crowd on the day of the disaster?
(a) I don't want to die.
(b) Anna is with child.
(c) A surprise that he did not have Anna's hands in his.
(d) I'm going to sue the tent company.

3. Where does the narrator and her mother live?
(a) New Hampshire.
(b) Maine.
(c) Vermont.
(d) Rhode Island.

4. What condition does the narrator's mother have as explained in paragraph 1?
(a) She is paralyzed.
(b) She is blind.
(c) She is deaf.
(d) She has dementia.

5. What is something the narrator says happens when she is in her room and gets a "whiff of smoke from the stove downstairs" (para.2)?
(a) She scurries to make sure her mother is okay.
(b) She panics and cannot breath.
(c) She knows her mother must be cooking something special.
(d) The stitches burn beneath her fingers.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the narrator say her mother did the first time she owes her existence to her?

2. Who is the author of "The Leap"?

3. What did the ringmaster do to introduce the Flying Avalons on the day of the disaster?

4. What does the narrator say audience members ate while waiting for the act to begin?

5. What is the name of the narrator's mother's act?

Short Essay Questions

1. What detail about Anna was not mentioned in the newspaper accounts of the disaster?

2. What stands in the center of town as a reminder of the disaster? Where does the narrator find out about the events that day?

3. Why does the narrator sometimes forget that her mother was part of the Flying Avalons?

4. Why does the narrator say people in the East are at a disadvantage regarding weather changes than those in the West, where she used to live?

5. What events followed lightning striking the main tent pole while Harold and Anna were performing?

6. Why does the narrator find it unsurprising that her mother was able to perform while seven months pregnant?

7. How does the narrator describe the way her mother moves through their home in New Hampshire in paragraph 1?

8. How is the scene at the circus before the disaster described? What was the weather like? What was the audience doing?

9. Describe Anna and Harold's typical trapeze performance.

10. What type of performer was the narrator's mother? Where does she live and what is her medical condition?

(see the answer keys)

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