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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the name of the song that Jing-Mei finds next to the Schumann piece she played for the talent show at the end of the story?
(a) Perfectly Contented
(b) Pleading Child
(c) Peter’s Waltz
(d) Anita’s Dance

2. How does Jing-Mei say her academic career ended in “Two Kinds”?
(a) She dropped out of college
(b) She earned a bachelor’s degree
(c) She earned a law degree
(d) She earned a master’s degree

3. What does Jing-Mei do with the Chinese silk dresses she finds when sorting through her mother’s things at the end of the story?
(a) She gives them to her sister
(b) She sells them
(c) She takes them home with her
(d) She gives them to her father

4. What composition does the piano prodigy play by Edvard Grieg on The Ed Sullivan Show as Jing-Mei and her mother watch?
(a) Simon’s Waltz
(b) Anita’s Dance
(c) Pleading Child
(d) Perfectly Contended

5. How many sons does Auntie Lindo have in the story?
(a) 3
(b) 2
(c) 1
(d) 4

6. Jing-Mei describes her childhood ambitions in the beginning of the story by comparing herself to “Cinderella stepping from her pumpkin carriage with” what type of music “filling the air”?
(a) Black-and-white movie music
(b) Whispering music
(c) Sparkly cartoon music
(d) Old-timey piano music

7. Jing-Mei soon learns after beginning her piano lessons with Mr. Chong that he is deaf. He compares himself to what composer, saying “We’re both listening only in our head”?
(a) Beethoven
(b) Berlioz
(c) Chopin
(d) Mozart

8. Jing-Mei says that as a child “sometimes the prodigy in me became impatient.” What did Jing-Mei’s inner prodigy tell her at this time?
(a) If you don’t hurry up and get me out of here, I’m disappearing for good
(b) If I’m not on stage in a year, I’ll never get there
(c) I’m dying of boredom. When are we going to do something fun?
(d) Tell her to stop making you do this. This is taking forever

9. At the end of the story, Jing-Mei says, “After I had the piano tuned, I opened the lid and touched the keys.” How does she say it sounded?
(a) It sounded even richer than I remembered
(b) It sounded like there was a dying cat inside
(c) It sounded softer and more brittle than I remembered
(d) It sounded like my mother’s voice

10. How does Jing-Mei described her family’s kitchen table where she would sit after dinner with her mother during her childhood?
(a) Oak
(b) Plywood
(c) Marble
(d) Formica

11. “Two Kinds” is a short story from Amy Tan’s book The Joy Luck Club. This collection of short stories revolves around the lives of Chinese immigrant women who form a club and play what game?
(a) Bridge
(b) Chess
(c) Chinese checkers
(d) Mah-jongg

12. What word from the story mean to find fault in, blame, or censure?
(a) Reproach
(b) Adulterate
(c) Tolerate
(d) Confiscate

13. What does Jing-Mei wear in her hair at the talent show?
(a) A yellow bow
(b) A silver crown
(c) A gold ribbon
(d) A pink bow

14. Jing-Mei describes Mr. Chong when she began piano lessons with him as “very strange, always tapping his fingers to the silent music of” what?
(a) An imaginary guitar
(b) His wife’s heartbeat
(c) An invisible orchestra
(d) An era long passed

15. What college does Jing-Mei say she didn’t get into, causing more disappointment for her mother?
(a) Stanford
(b) Oxford
(c) Emerson
(d) Yale

Short Answer Questions

1. When was Edvard Grieg born?

2. What does Jing-Mei’s mother die from?

3. What word does Jing-Mei use in describing Mr. Chong’s silent instrumental compositions with a vague and dreamy character?

4. What does Jing-Mei say she never really did while she practiced for her talent show?

5. What does Jing-Mei say Mr. Chong would balance on her wrists as she practiced piano so that she would keep them still?

(see the answer keys)

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