Alejandro Zambra - Multiple Choice

Alejandro Zambrais the author of the story collection My Documents , which was a finalist for the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award, and three previous novels: Ways of Going Home, The Private Lives of Trees , and Bonsai . His books have been translated into more than ten languages. He has received numerous prizes in Chile, including the Chilean Literary Critics’ Award in 2007 and the National Book Council’s award for best novel in 2007 and 2012, as well as international distinctions such as the Prince Claus Award in Holland. His stories have appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Harper’s, Tin House , and McSweeney’s , among others. In 2010, he was named one of Granta’ s Best of Young Spanish-Language Novelists. A 2015–2016 Cullman Center fellow at the New York Public Library, he divides his time between New York and Santiago, Chile.

Megan McDowellis a Spanish language literary translator from Richmond, Kentucky. With the exception of Bonsai , she has translated all of Zambra’s books. She lives in Santiago, Chile.

In exercises 1 through 24, mark the answer that corresponds to the word whose meaning has no relation to either the heading or the other words listed.

1. MULTIPLE

A) manifold

B) numerous

C) untold

D) five

E) two

2. CHOICE

A) voice

B) one

C) decision

D) preference

E) alternative

3. YOURS

A) hers

B) his

C) mine

D) their

E) ours

4. FIVE

A) six

B) seven

C) eight

D) nine

E) one

5. BLINK

A) sweat

B) nod

C) cough

D) cry

E) bite

6. BODY

A) dust

B) ashes

C) dirt

D) grit

E) smut

7. MASK

A) disguise

B) veil

C) hood

D) face

E) confront

8. BEAR

A) endure

B) tolerate

C) abide

D) panda

E) kangaroo

9. TEACH

A) preach

B) control

C) educate

D) initiate

E) screech

10. COPY

A) cut

B) paste

C) cut

D) paste

E) undo

11. LETTER

A) uppercase

B) lowercase

C) cursive

D) dead

E) silent

12. CUT

A) erase

B) annul

C) blot

D) expunge

E) wound

13. HEARTBREAKING

A) breathtaking

B) earthshaking

C) lovemaking

D) forsaking

E) mistaking

14. BLACKLIST

A) backlist

B) checklist

C) playlist

D) shitlist

E) novelist

15. CHILDHOOD

A) childlike

B) childproof

C) childcare

D) childless

E) childfree

16. PROTECT

A) care for

B) cover for

C) dote on

D) watch over

E) look after

17. PROMISE

A) complete

B) silence

C) promise

D) complete

E) silence

18. PRAY

A) please

B) praise

C) prey

D) prays

E) pleas

19. BLACKOUT

A) whiteout

B) pitch-black

C) lights-out

D) nightfall

E) dead of night

20. RAZE

A) flatten

B) raise

C) level

D) demolish

E) subdue

21. SPARE

A) time

B) room

C) change

D) tire

E) life

22. PAUSE

A) hesitation

B) recess

C) break

D) breath

E) silence

23. SILENCE

A) fidelity

B) complicity

C) loyalty

D) conspiracy

E) cowardice

24. SILENCE

A) silence

B) silence

C) silence

D) silence

E) silence

In exercises 25 through 36, mark the answer that puts the sentences in the best possible order to form a coherent text.

25. Nineteen eighty-something

1. Your father argued with your mother.

2. Your mother argued with your brother.

3. Your brother argued with your father.

4. It was almost always cold.

5. That is all you remember.

A) 2–3 — 1–4 — 5

B) 3–1 — 2–4 — 5

C) 4–1 — 2–3 — 5

D) 4–5 — 1–2 — 3

E) 5–1 — 2–3 — 4

26. The second

1. You try to remember your first Communion.

2. You try to remember your first masturbation.

3. You try to remember the first time you had sex.

4. You try to remember the first death in your life.

5. And the second.

A) 1–5 — 2–3 — 4

B) 1–2 — 5–3 — 4

C) 1–2 — 3–5 — 4

D) 4–5 — 1–2 — 3

E) 4–3 — 2–1 — 5

27. A child

1. You dream that you lose a child.

2. You wake up.

3. You cry.

4. You lose a child.

5. You cry.

A) 1–2 — 4–3 — 5

B) 1–2 — 3–5 — 4

C) 2–3 — 4–5 — 1

D) 3–4 — 5–1 — 2

E) 4–5 — 3–1 — 2

28. Your house

1. It belongs to a bank, but you prefer to think of it as yours.

2. If all goes well, you’ll finish paying for it in 2033.

3. You’ve lived here for eleven years. First with a family, and later on with some ghosts who ended up leaving, too.

4. You don’t like the neighborhood. There are no parks nearby and the air is dirty.

5. But you love this house. You’ll never leave it.

A) 2–3 — 4–5 — 1

B) 3–4 — 5–1 — 2

C) 4–5 — 1–2 — 3

D) 3–1 — 2–4 — 5

E) 1–2 — 4–3 — 5

29. Birthday

1. You wake up early, go for a walk, look for a café.

2. It’s your birthday, but you don’t remember.

3. You feel like you are forgetting something, but it’s only a sense of unease, an intuition that something is out of place.

4. You go about your routine, like any other Saturday.

5. You smoke, turn on the TV, fall asleep listening to the midnight news.

A) 5–1 — 2–3 — 4

B) 4–5 — 1–2 — 3

C) 3–4 — 5–1 — 2

D) 2–3 — 4–5 — 1

E) 1–2 — 3–4 — 5

30. Two hundred twenty-three

1. You remember the freckles on her breasts, on her legs, on her belly, on her ass. The exact number: two hundred twenty-three. One thousand two hundred and seven days ago there were two hundred twenty-three.

2. You reread the messages she used to send you: They are beautiful, funny. Long paragraphs, vivid, complex sentences. Warm words. She writes better than you do.

3. You remember the time you drove five hours just to see her for ten minutes. It wasn’t ten minutes, it was the whole afternoon, but you like to think it was only ten minutes.

4. You remember the waves, the rocks. Her sandals, a wound on her foot. You remember your eyes darting from her thighs to her eyelashes.

5. You never got used to being with her. You never got used to being without her. You remember when she said, in a whisper, as if to herself: Everything is OK .

A) 5–1 — 2–3 — 4