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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What comment does Camus make concerning the end of history?
(a) It is too frightening for us to try and imagine.
(b) It will come when God is pleased for it to happen.
(c) It can't have any definable significance for us.
(d) We need to ignore it and make our own lives count for something.

2. What is the contrast between the historical and artistic spirits, according to Camus?
(a) History is a necessary record of the past, while art is a mere bagatelle.
(b) History can be manipulated, but art never can.
(c) History aims to educate, art to expand consciousness.
(d) History's aim is tyranny, while the artist's aim is freedom.

3. Where did Sakyamuni meditate?
(a) On top of a holy mountain.
(b) On top of a pole.
(c) In a dark room.
(d) In the desert.

4. What significant thing concerning Socrates does Camus refer to?
(a) He said that money is the root of all evil.
(b) He said that what he did not know he did not claim to know.
(c) He said that the unexamined life is not worth living.
(d) He said that to the gods, humans are like flies to wanton boys.

5. What do all struggles need?
(a) Soldiers.
(b) The brake of values.
(c) Protagonists.
(d) To come to a conclusion.

6. According to Camus, what have 'the smell of the office clinging to them'?
(a) Our wretched tragedies.
(b) Our overcoats.
(c) Our sordid little affairs.
(d) Our obligations.

7. What do Arabs sell for five sous?
(a) Golden bangles.
(b) Roast chestnuts.
(c) Camels.
(d) Iced lemonade.

8. At Belcourt, how have marriages been arranged?
(a) Through the mosque.
(b) Through exchanging peppermint lozenges.
(c) Through marriage brokers.
(d) Through exchanging golden rings.

9. How does Camus classify Oran?
(a) As a desert.
(b) As an oasis.
(c) As a center of industry.
(d) As a center of culture.

10. What kind of role is that of the witness?
(a) Precarious.
(b) Comfortable.
(c) Compromising.
(d) Valuable.

11. What is different about Tipasa now?
(a) It has been settled by homeless people.
(b) It has been fenced in.
(c) It has been restored.
(d) It is surrounded by barbed wire.

12. What must an artist serve simultaneously?
(a) Nature and humanity.
(b) Dangers and bitterness.
(c) Suffering and beauty.
(d) Dangers and dissonance.

13. What would the writer choose never to do?
(a) Join the Resistance.
(b) Betray a colleague.
(c) Act as a judge.
(d) Join a trade union.

14. What paradox did Descartes notice in Amsterdam?
(a) That one could feel safe in the red-light district of the city.
(b) That a tax on windows meant doors were narrow.
(c) That there were streets as well as canals for traffic.
(d) That one could feel freedom and tranquility amongst a crowd.

15. What is the origin of the nickname 'Clarques'?
(a) The French word for a group.
(b) The sound made by seagulls.
(c) The French word for a bell.
(d) Clark Gable.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does night descend on the city?

2. What does Camus say is foreign to us today?

3. Which composer is associated with Salzburg?

4. Of what does the color of the ruined city's columns remind the writer?

5. Which culture/philosophy does Camus dismiss as 'the child of disproportion'?

(see the answer keys)

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