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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What happens at ten o'clock?
(a) The robot mice go back to their burrows.
(b) The kitchen begins to make a second breakfast.
(c) The sun comes out.
(d) A stray animal wanders through the kitchen.

2. What is the probable purpose of emphasizing the roundness of the smoke plume and the great quantity of smoke?
(a) There is an implied comparison to a woman's skirts.
(b) It reinforces the "technology versus nature" motif.
(c) It points out how little chance the house really had.
(d) It reminds the reader of a nuclear explosion.

3. Just before the house collapses, what does it do?
(a) It dumps out all of the liquor, coffee, and milk in one last attempt to fight the fire.
(b) It announces the wrong date and time.
(c) It shuts down entirely except for its "voice" function.
(d) It begins performing multiple functions over and over.

4. Which is the best summary of how the poem "There Will Come Soft Rains" compares to the short story of the same name?
(a) The poem is more hopeful about humankind's future.
(b) The poem focuses more on the survival of a world without humans.
(c) The poem is a darker version of the same ideas contained in the short story.
(d) The poem focuses more on the role of technology in humankind's demise.

5. Bradbury mentions that martinis "manifested" on tables. What did the martinis do?
(a) Appeared.
(b) Spilled.
(c) Evaporated.
(d) Sparkled.

6. What does Bradbury compare to Baal?
(a) The stove.
(b) The dog.
(c) The incinerator.
(d) The house.

7. What does the breakfast stove make for breakfast?
(a) Eggs, toast, and bacon.
(b) Pancakes.
(c) Eggs and hash browns.
(d) Pancakes and bacon.

8. What is the name of the family that owned the house?
(a) Arthur.
(b) McClellan.
(c) Longfellow.
(d) Fitzpatrick.

9. Who does the story imply is still alive in the city?
(a) The wealthy.
(b) Some animals.
(c) A few scientists.
(d) No one.

10. 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 that the house is a living thing.
(b) It reinforces how helpless and pointless the technology is in the face of nature's power.
(c) It clarifies the order in which the house is burning, because the house can still "speak."
(d) It reminds the reader of the death of the family.

11. In which city does the story take place?
(a) Allendale.
(b) Sacramento.
(c) San Francisco.
(d) Petaluma.

12. What is unusual about the images of the African animals?
(a) Their colors.
(b) Their faces.
(c) Their sizes.
(d) Their shapes.

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

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

15. Why does the house let the dog in?
(a) It is programmed to let in any dog or cat.
(b) It wants the dog to find the family.
(c) It recognizes the dog.
(d) It is an accident.

Short Answer Questions

1. What "delicacies" does the fire consume upstairs?

2. The robot mice are said to live in "warrens." This means that they live in what?

3. What happens at ten-fifteen?

4. The use of sentence fragments in the description of the spreading fire is probably intended to create what effect?

5. What does the house provide after dinner?

(see the answer keys)

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