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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Jing-Mei’s mother tell her on the phone that she has when offering her the piano for her birthday?
(a) Natural talent
(b) Children who might want to learn
(c) Lots of money
(d) Practiced skill

2. 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) Polish her daughter’s beauty crowns
(b) Dust off her trophies
(c) Clean her daughter’s pageant dresses
(d) Vacuum her daughter’s messes up

3. As Jing-Mei sits down to begin her piano solo at the talent show, she envisions whom rushing up to introduce her to everyone on TV?
(a) Ed Sullivan
(b) Johnny Carson
(c) Bob Newhart
(d) James Dean

4. What color does Jing-Mei say her mother knitted sweaters in, which were also “all the colors I hated”?
(a) Red, white, and black
(b) Blue, red, and silver
(c) Yellow, pink, and orange
(d) Green, blue, and yellow

5. After Jing-Mei’s performance at the talent show, she says, “We could have escaped during intermission.” What does she say “must have anchored my parents to their chairs”?
(a) A need to punish me further
(b) A love for music
(c) A desire to not be shown up by their neighbors
(d) Pride and some strange sense of honor

6. What is the name of Jing-Mei’s mother in “Two Kinds”?
(a) Lindo Jong
(b) Suyuan Woo
(c) An-Mei Hsu
(d) Wu-Tsing Hsu

7. How many hours a day does Jing-Mei have access to the piano at Mr. Chong’s for practice when she first begins taking lessons?
(a) 4
(b) 1
(c) 2
(d) 3

8. 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 few years ago
(b) A year ago
(c) A few months ago
(d) A week ago

9. Where does Jing-Mei live while growing up?
(a) Oakland, California
(b) Los Angeles, California
(c) San Francisco, California
(d) Sacramento, California

10. By what name does Jing-Mei refer to Mr. Chong’s mother as in the story?
(a) Witch Chong
(b) Old Lady Chong
(c) The Wolf
(d) Beverly Chong

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

12. Jing-Mei describes the fingers of Mr. Chong’s mother as feeling like what?
(a) A fat baby’s
(b) The inside of an oyster
(c) A jellyfish
(d) A dead person’s

13. What musical term from the story means pertaining to the lowest part in harmonic music?
(a) Scale
(b) Treble
(c) Bass
(d) Sonata

14. What word does Jing-Mei use to describe Auntie Lindo’s daughter in the narrative?
(a) Voluptuous
(b) Snotty
(c) Humble
(d) Gracious

15. How does Jing-Mei describe Mr. Chong’s eyes as always looking when she began piano lessons with him?
(a) Tired and sleepy
(b) Dark and mysterious
(c) Sprightly and bright
(d) Daunting and scary

Short Answer Questions

1. What literary term refers to a short impressionistic scene that focuses on one moment or gives a trenchant impression about a character, idea, setting, or object?

2. Jing-Mei says to her mother as they argue over piano practice after the talent show, “I’ll never be the kind of daughter you want me to be!” Her mother responds, “Only two kinds of daughters.” What are these two kinds?

3. What U.S. President signed the Chinese Exclusion Act into law?

4. Which of the following is a major theme throughout “Two Kinds”?

5. What does the piano symbolize in “Two Kinds”?

(see the answer keys)

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