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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What “magic word” as in conjuring does Jing-Mei use to describe the effect of her having said hurtful things to her mother during their fight about piano practice?
(a) Abracadabra
(b) Voila
(c) Kapow
(d) Alakazam

2. What word from the narrative means under a magical trance?
(a) Engulfed
(b) Bewitched
(c) Trilled
(d) Elated

3. What musical term from Jing-Mei’s piano lessons means characterized by abruptness and disconnectedness?
(a) Trill
(b) Staccato
(c) Reverie
(d) Arpeggio

4. In the 1993 film adaptation of The Joy Luck Club, what actress played the role of Jing-Mei?
(a) Ming-Na Wen
(b) Tamlyn Tomita
(c) Tsai Chin
(d) Kieu Chinh

5. How long ago has Jing-Mei’s mother died when she sends the tuner to recondition the piano at the end of the story?
(a) A year ago
(b) A week ago
(c) A few months ago
(d) A few years ago

6. When was the Chinese Exclusion Act signed into law?
(a) 1882
(b) 1948
(c) 1862
(d) 1915

7. Auntie Lindo tells Jing-Mei’s mother that all day long she has no time to do anything but what, when she is bragging about her daughter?
(a) Vacuum her daughter’s messes up
(b) Dust off her trophies
(c) Clean her daughter’s pageant dresses
(d) Polish her daughter’s beauty crowns

8. How does Jing-Mei say she felt every time she saw the piano in her parents’ living room at the end of the story?
(a) Sad
(b) Proud
(c) Angry
(d) Ashamed

9. What nickname does Jing-Mei say she secretly gave Mr. Chong when she began taking piano lessons with him?
(a) Wicked Chong
(b) Old Chong
(c) Sage Chong
(d) Wise Chong

10. Jing-Mei says of Mr. Chong when she began piano lessons that “he must have been younger than I thought, since he” what?
(a) Had two young children and a young wife
(b) Had sisters that were my mother’s age
(c) Lived with his mother and was not yet married
(d) Had no children and was not yet married

11. The little girl that Jing-Mei and her mother watch playing piano on The Ed Sullivan Show is said to have what kind of haircut?
(a) A Barbie Doll haircut
(b) A Raggedy Anne haircut
(c) A Peter Pan haircut
(d) A Shirley Temple haircut

12. Why does Jing-Mei say she sent a tuner to recondition the piano at her parents’ house?
(a) Because I wanted to sell it
(b) For purely sentimental reasons
(c) Because I wanted to have it appraised
(d) Because I planned to play it again

13. By the time that Jing-Mei is preparing to play in the talent recital, her parents have bought her what kind of secondhand piano?
(a) A Wurlitzer spinet
(b) A Förster upright
(c) A Steinway upright
(d) A Steinway grand

14. What similarity does Amy Tan share with Jing-Mei from “Two Kinds”?
(a) Her mother left behind children in China
(b) Her father was an Italian dentist
(c) Her brother went on to become a lawyer
(d) Her mother committed suicide when she was young

15. Jing-Mei describes Mr. Chong’s mother as having a particular smell about her of what?
(a) A baby that had done something in its pants
(b) Freshly mowed grass and spring
(c) Fresh flowers and stale perfume
(d) Baked apple pies and the smell of autumn

Short Answer Questions

1. When did the Japanese invasion of China take place, leading Jing-Mei’s mother to flee China?

2. Of Auntie Lindo, Jing-Mei’s mother says in the beginning of the story, “Her daughter, she is only best” what?

3. The majority of the narrative of “Two Kind” is related in what tense?

4. When Jing-Mei has a revelation while staring at herself in the bathroom mirror as a child, how does she describe the girl who is staring back at her?

5. How does Jing-Mei describe Auntie Lindo’s smile when she looks out at the audience before beginning her piano solo at the talent show?

(see the answer keys)

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