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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 does Nathaniel suggest that people might be desperate enough to burn in the wake of a global computer failure?
(a) Their children's elementary school artwork.
(b) Their old issues of the New York Review.
(c) Their designer clothing and shoes.
(d) Stacks of money.

2. Which of the possible consequences of a global computer failure that Nathaniel mentions could be considered foreshadowing?
(a) The idea that widespread food shortages might occur.
(b) The idea that people might be trapped in high-rise elevators.
(c) The idea that hospitals might not be able to monitor patients.
(d) The idea that airplanes might lose their guidance systems and crash.

3. To whom does Nathaniel imagine telling the story of the Y2K computer issue?
(a) His readers.
(b) A historian.
(c) His grandchildren.
(d) His children.

4. Of all of the things that Nathaniel can see from Matsumoto's loft, which is most important to him?
(a) The Empire State Building.
(b) The World Trade Center.
(c) The Statue of Liberty.
(d) The Chrysler Building.

5. To what does Nathaniel compare the sight of Manhattan from Matsumoto's loft?
(a) A glass of champagne.
(b) Van Gogh's Starry Night.
(c) The circuit board of a computer.
(d) A miniature city from his childhood train set.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is Nathaniel's job in the narrative present?

2. What is Russell's business relationship to Amity?

3. What do Rose and Isaac ask Lucien to do when he calls Nathaniel after Nathaniel arrives in New York?

4. What does Lucien end up saying to his assistant on page 8 when he wants to give her a piece of advice?

5. What does Nathaniel say that ceremonial occasions remind us about?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why did Nathaniel's friends come to live with him?

2. Describe Rose and Issac.

3. What is the "View" that the third section of the story is titled for, and why is it special?

4. What is the meaning of the title of the section of the story called "Innocence"?

5. How does the "View" referred to in the third section of the story change in its significance for Nathaniel between his arrival in New York and the narrative present?

6. Explain the non-event that "Nathaniel Recalls the Miracle" is centered on.

7. What phrase makes Lucien think about the frog and the boiling water, and why?

8. Where are Nathaniel and his friends, in the narrative present, and what are they doing?

9. What is the "Reunion" referred to in the title of the sixth section of the story?

10. What qualities does Nathaniel have that worry his parents?

(see the answer keys)

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