p 3
First Edition: John Ashbery, One Hundred Multiple-Choice Questions in «Adventures in Poetry», January 1970 Benway Series, 3 Book Design & Composition: Michele Zaffarano © John Ashbery © Damiano Abeni (for the drawings) ISBN 978-88-98222-06-3 Digital printing: Tipografia La Colornese Sas Publishing: Tielleci editrice via San Rocco, 98 Colorno (PR)
John Ashbery
one hundred multiple-choice questions Drawings by
Damiano Abeni
Benway Series
Table of contents
one hundred multiple-choice questions Thinking can help to solve problems, p. 9 – “My vacation was spent in the mountains” p. 9 – Christopher Columbus used an egg, p. 9 – A phalanx, p. 10 – In a democracy the president is elected, p. 10 – Religious freedom, p. 10 – The Antiquary is a novel, p. 11 – “Let sleeping dogs lie”, p. 11 – A feeling of pride instilled by the sight, p. 11 – The “laudanum bunches”, p. 12 – Pain is generally considered preferable to pleasure, p. 12 – A popular movie actress of the forties, p. 12 – The announcer of the Fibber McGee radio show, p. 13 – Larry Fagin’s wife’s name, p. 13 – If you use a devil in your work, p. 13 – “What goes up must come that are down”, p. 14 – The concurrence of three straight lines in a plane, p. 14 – Playing cards, p. 14 – A pound of mixed nuts, p. 15 – x is a town 20 miles from y, p. 15 – Rhetoric, p. 15 – Kilometer, p. 16 – The capital of Tasmania, p. 16 – A medlar, p. 16 – The island of Rügen, p. 17 – The population of Transylvania, p. 17 – All Orientals are wily, p. 17 – An English automotive center, p. 18 – “Ettrick Shepherd”, p. 18 – The “Switzerland of South Africa”, p. 18 – Manon’s lover, p. 19 – Leached, aphonal fellow, p. 19 – “The greatest imitation of our bard or any other”, p. 19 – A line which divides an angle into two equal parts, p. 20 – The Basque word “eztakiat”, p. 20 – “Little Red Riding Hood”, p. 20 – The Stone Age, p. 23 – Baseball, p. 23 – Der glock haus im kunstverein schleeb, p. 23 – No bruise save in winesap artikel, p. 24 – The “Throne of Zeus”, p. 24 – To frame “hot style” elegy, p. 24 – They would often be dead, p. 25 – “Horny”, p. 25 – “Categorical pejorative”, p. 25 – Falling outward, p. 26 – We could have avoided the Fall, p. 26 – Lorca, p. 26 – It is useless to regret the past, p. 27 – How much wzd czld, p. 27 – Resuscitated plastic articles, p. 27 – Reproduce tones, p. 28 – Pstszp tranch spalyp perturbation tech, p. 28 – Mazurka, p. 28 – Oceans’ stabilizer research,
p. 29 – Sand dabs, p. 29 – A Japanese tongue twister, p. 29 – EdwEdwar Ed Edwarde Lear, p. 30 – “The greatest good for the greatest munver of people”, p. 30 – “Art is anything you can get away with”, p. 30 – Truculent “scalawags” Jim Fisk and Jay Gould, p. 31 – Newly raviched funh on disk haus, p. 31 – Invasion, p. 31 – “All happy families are obioud”, p. 32 – The best way of disguising a hidden personality trait, p. 32 – Was about in voting him down, p. 32 – John Garfield, p. 33 – “E = mc2”, p. 33 – If a man came up to you on the street, p. 33 – A problem for astronauts of the future, p. 34 – m is p, m is s, p. 34 – The right of search, p. 34 – Courlan, p. 37 – Apfloximate ingrish sounds, p. 37 – 01 90 78$% thgfb sefth plon, p. 37 – S9dewinder, p. 38 – The existence of the Bahr Sara, p. 38– Not an ailment, p. 38 – Mixing yellow ocher pigment, p. 39 – Lisl is predammerung, p. 39 – If you wanted to dance to something, p. 39 – A person’s sexual adequacy, p. 40 – Your favorite fm station, p. 40 – Your favorite flower, p. 40 – It’s started to work again, p. 41 – How much do you weigh, p. 41 – There is this whole other world of sex stimulation, p. 41 – Raunchier version of the old set-piece, p. 42 – International establishment van, p. 42 – Only two-member council, p. 42 – Inscrutable yet active labor bean, p. 43 – People asking questions, p. 43 – New opera cast, p. 43 – Old ways, p. 44 – One out of 3, p. 44 – Drawn together finally, p. 44 – “Of Cerberus and blackest midnight”, p. 45 – “The tussle between words and experience”, p. 45 – Eventual quality, p. 45 – If disorder is vanquished, p. 46.
drawings
by Damiano Abeni Fast trains to Babel, 2013, p. 21 – It’s the wind that war brings around, 2007, p. 22 – The standardization of the measurement of Vitiligo involvement will be performed by Luchino or by Ludovico and Federico, 1999, p. 35 – Normalizing the impact, 2013, p. 36.
One Hundred Multiple-Choice Questions
1. Thinking can help to solve problems because
a) problems exist only in the mind b) problems must be taken seriously c) mind triumphs over matter d) not to think would be to avoid the problem e) no problem can be completely solved anyway f ) it is our duty to think our way out of problems
2. In the sentence, “My vacation was spent in the mountains,” the word “mountains” is the a) subject b) predicate c) noun d) verb e) gerund f ) none of these
3. Christopher Columbus used an egg to prove that the earth is round because a) the egg is round b) an egg conveys the idea of roundness c) eggs are not round but ellipsoidal d) an egg is a familiar object e) eggs are found on ships f ) the egg came first
9
4. A phalanx is a(n)
a) group of men b) Egyptian idol c) term of military strength d) political party e) plant found in swampy areas f ) promise made to oneself
5. In a democracy the president is elected by a) roll-call vote b) the will of the people c) the Supreme Court d) majority vote e) drawing lots f ) straw vote
6. Religious freedom means
a) that God does not exist b) that God is dead c) that the individual is free to worship God as he chooses d) that we need attend church only on Sundays e) that we can do as we please f ) that there is no life after death
10
7. The Antiquary is a novel by
a) Charles Dickens b) William Makepeace Thackeray c) Henry Wadsworth Longfellow d) Sir Walter Scott e) Ouida f ) Edna St.Vincent Millay
8. The proverb “Let sleeping dogs lie” means that a) dogs never tell the truth anyway b) dogs will be good as long as they are asleep c) dogs often play “possum” d) dogs become angry if awakened e) dogs sleep with one eye open f ) a watchdog never sleeps
9. A feeling of pride is instilled by the sight of a) our country’s flag b) the Washington Monument c) Valley Forge d) the Statue of Liberty e) Constitution Hall f ) the Empire State Building
11
10. The “laudanum bunches� refers to
a) a famous London tavern b) a fatal dose of a powerful drug c) an old English country dance d) a tumor that responds to drugs if treated in time e) a spy thriller by Edgar Wallace f ) an old English folk song
11. Pain is generally considered preferable to pleasure, except in cases of a) dire necessity b) physical handicap c) a need for order d) self-immolation e) self-sacrifice f ) selfhood
12. A popular movie actress of the forties was a) Bette Davis b) Margaret Dumont c) Joan Leslie d) Patricia Ellis e) Margaret Leighton f ) Linda Christian
12
13. The announcer of the Fibber McGee radio show was a) Frank McHugh b) Durward Kirby c) Basil Rysdale d) Graham MacNamee e) Harlow Wilcox f ) Don Wilson
14. Larry Fagin’s wife’s name is a) Dolores b) Rosemary c) Joan d) Ellen e) Frances f ) Mildred
15. If you use a devil in your work, you must be a a) minister b) soda jerk c) pilgrim d) printer e) dressmaker f ) brush salesman
13
16. “What goes up must come that are down� applies only to objects a) immune to the law of gravity b) lighter than air c) beyond the pull of the earth’s gravity d) heavier than air e) immune to centrifugal force f ) immune to centripetal force
17. The concurrence of three straight lines in a plane signifies that they meet in a(n) a) plane b) arc c) point d) tangent e) segment f ) theorem
18. Playing cards were invented by the a) French b) Dutch c) Chinese d) English e) Russians f ) Germans
14