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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. During what festival did people decorate with irises?
(a) The Festival of the Eighth Month.
(b) The Festival of the Third Month.
(c) The Festival of the Fifth Month.
(d) The Festival of the First Month.

2. What does Shonagon say was depressing for a messenger who brought a gift to a house where a child was just born?
(a) The gift was returned unopened.
(b) The messenger was ignored.
(c) No reward was given.
(d) The child had died.

3. What did the officials carry when they came to thank the Emperor for their new appointments?
(a) Baskets.
(b) Flowers.
(c) Batons.
(d) Scrolls.

4. What was hung from the pillars of the Empress' palace during the Festival of the Fifth Month?
(a) Cherry blossoms.
(b) Chrysanthemums.
(c) Pear blossoms.
(d) Herbal balls.

5. How did Shonagon feel about women who lived at home and cared for their husbands?
(a) Curious.
(b) Sympathetic.
(c) Jealous.
(d) Scornful.

6. What was rare in a servant according to the section titled "Rare Things?"
(a) One who was pleasant to his master.
(b) One who was well-dressed.
(c) One who was cruel.
(d) One who was intelligent.

7. What plant did Shonagon think made an "uncommonly pretty" design on figured silk?
(a) Water-plantain.
(b) Sweet rush.
(c) Wood-sorrel.
(d) Stonecrop.

8. What did Shonagon say gentlemen should always have lest she find them boring?
(a) Money.
(b) Escorts.
(c) Nice clothes.
(d) Quick tongues.

9. What did Lord Akinobu say he had picked with his own hands?
(a) Fern sprouts.
(b) Seaweed.
(c) Cherries.
(d) Rice.

10. What insect did Shonagon say she should have included in her list of hateful things?
(a) Fly.
(b) Beetle.
(c) Moth.
(d) Mosquito.

11. What did Shonagon tell the Empress she thought of Yukinari?
(a) He was handsome.
(b) He was unusual.
(c) He was foolish.
(d) He was cruel.

12. What did stout men strike Shonagon as being?
(a) Lazy.
(b) Sleepy-looking.
(c) Sloppy-looking.
(d) Dumb-looking.

13. What was the old nun who came on the second day of the Perpetual Readings asking for?
(a) A job.
(b) A place to stay.
(c) Leftovers from the altar.
(d) New clothes.

14. In the section called "Depressing Things," what was depressing about a letter from the provinces?
(a) When the letter bore bad news.
(b) When the letter was on plain paper.
(c) When the letter arrived without a gift.
(d) When the penmanship was poor.

15. What was wrong with the appearance of the escorts that Shonagon saw while visiting the palace to see the horses on the first day of the First Month?
(a) They were too tall.
(b) Their hair was unkempt.
(c) Their faces were improperly powdered.
(d) Their feet were too large.

Short Answer Questions

1. What gift did the Empress give the wet nurse who was leaving?

2. What was the weather like in the Seventh Month?

3. What color was the lute Shonagon saw the Empress holding in the section called "A Group of Senior Courtiers?"

4. According to Shonagon, what can't be compared to rain?

5. What did the Empress give the old nun?

(see the answer keys)

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