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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Section 1: "There Will Come Soft Rains".

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What historical event is alluded to with the date given in the beginning of the story?
(a) The beginning of the Cold War.
(b) The first testing of a nuclear bomb.
(c) The bombing of Hiroshima.
(d) The beginning of World War II.

2. In the sentence "The morning house lay empty," there is an example of which technique?
(a) Parallelism.
(b) Passive voice.
(c) Punning.
(d) Metaphor.

3. What is the likely purpose of inserting the house's "dialogue" ("Help, help! Fire! Run, run!") into the scene that describes the fire consuming the house?
(a) It reminds the reader of the death of the family.
(b) It clarifies the order in which the house is burning, because the house can still "speak."
(c) It reinforces how helpless and pointless the technology is in the face of nature's power.
(d) It reminds the reader that the house is a living thing.

4. The robot mice are said to live in "warrens." This means that they live in what?
(a) Small boxes.
(b) Plastic sleeves.
(c) Racks.
(d) Networks of tunnels.

5. When the fire travels outside and up the sides of the house, it is described as what?
(a) Clever.
(b) Treacherous.
(c) Overwhelming.
(d) Mischievous.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where are the "aluminium roaches and iron crickets"?

2. When the story ends, what is left standing?

3. When the narrator tells readers that it seems like the voice-clock is worried that no one will get up, this is an example of what technique?

4. Who is the author of the poem that the house reads after dinner?

5. What is the reaction of nature to the end of human existence in the poem "There Will Come Soft Rains"?

(see the answer key)

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