Name_____________________ Date:______________

The Bet

I. Multiple Choice: Read the following questions and write the

letter of the correct answer on the space provided before each
number.

___1. Who are the main chacters of the story?

a. The banker and the guest
b. The banker and the lawyer
c. The lawyer and the guest
d. The watchman and the guest
___2. Who is involved in the bet?
a. The doctor
b. The housekeeper
c. The laywer
d. The pediatrician
___3. How old is the lawyer when he takes the bet?
a. 20
b. 22
c. 25
d. 30
___4. In which season did the fateful bet take place?
a. Autumn
b. Fall
c. Summer
 d. Winter
___5. Who is not at the party?
a. Journalists
b. The banker
c. The doctor
d. The lawyer
___6. Who is the host?
a. The banker
b. The doctor
c. The lawyer
d. The reporter
___7. What does the banker believe in?
a. Beheading
b. Capital punishment
c. Life imprisonment
d. Trial by fire
___8. For whom do they consider capital punishment unsuitable?
a. The christian states
b. The modern world
c. The western world
d. The whole world
___9. According to one guest, the state is not what?
a. All-knowing
b. Divine
c. God
d. Important
___10. What does the lawyer believe about capital punishment and life
imprisonment?
a. Being killed is moral
b. Both are equally immoral
c. Imprisonment is immoral
d. One is immoral
___11. If the lawyer had to choose, which would he choose?
a. Capital punishment
b. Death
c. Life imprisonment
d. None of the above
___12. Which of these positions does the lawyer endorse?
a. Any life is better than none
b. Death is better than a sorry life
c. Death is better than prison
d. To live anyhow is better than not at all
___13. How long is the initial bet?
a. 2 years
b. 5 months
c. 5 years
d. 15 years
___14. How long does the bet end up being?
a. 5 years
b. 15 years
c. 21 months
d. 21 years
___15. Who extends the length of the bet?
 a. The banker
b. The doctor
c. The lawyer
d. The sheriff

___16. What does the banker stake in the bet?

a. His family
b. His home
c. His life
d. His millions
___17. What does the lawyer stake in the bet?
a. His freedom
b. His life
c. His livelihood
d. His millions
___18. How does the narrator characterize the banker?
a. Careful
b. Dangerous
c. Frivolous
d. Reckless
___19. Which does the banker consider more humane?
a. Death
b. Jail
c. Prison
d. Ridicule
___20. When does the party take place?
a. Dawn
b. Day
c. Dusk
d. Night
___21. The two million rubles has what value in the short story?
a. the amount the banker loses in fifteen years
b. the difference between success and bankruptcy
c. worth dying over
d. worth way more than five years of life
___22. In his letter, the lawyer claims to have done what in his prison?
a. flew around like an eagle
b. had many parties
c. raised mountains
d. romanced the ladies
___23. The lawyer promises to do what when his prison term is over?
a. haunt the banker in his dreams
b. leave early to lose by default
c. tell the whole world about his ordeal
d. win the bet and get the moolah

___24. A gunshot is fired outside the prison cell because…

a. it was hunting season, and those ducks won't kill themselves,
now will they
 b. the banker was trying to kill the prisoner
c. the guards were trying to keep the prisoner from escaping
d. the lawyer asked for confirmation that his multilingual note
was correct
___25. After 15 years, the banker reacts to the prisoner's final letter by
doing what?
a. crying himself to sleep
b. feeling great about himself
c. hugging the prisoner
d. tearing it up in anger
___26. What is one way the banker change from the beginning of the
story to the end?
a. He is very wealthy in the beginning, then he has lost his
fortune by the end.
b. He lost a lot of weight
c. He has become much wiser from all of his reading.
d. His time in isolation has made him lose his mind.
___27. Which point of view is "The Bet" written in?
a. First Person
b. Third Person Limited
c. Third Person Objective
d. Third Person Omniscient
___28. How does the lawyer’s 15-year imprisonment affect the banker?
a. The banker comes to realize that he was wrong about his
stance on life imprisonment.
b. The banker mourns the life and experiences that he has
deprived the lawyer of.
c. The banker regrets placing the bet and thinks it was a stupid
idea in the first place.
 d. The banker wishes that he had required the lawyer to stay
imprisoned for longer.
___29. What is the outcome of “The Bet”?
a. The Banker kills the Lawyer
b. The Lawyer has a heart attack and dies in confinement
c. The Lawyer leaves before his time is up and rejects the money
d. The Lawyer takes the money and lives a happy life

___30. Which statement best expresses a theme in the story?

a. Greed and impulsive decisions can lead to huge consequences.
b. Pursuing knowledge and bettering yourself is the best way to
spend your time.
c. The desire to prove to others that you’re right can lead to
extreme actions.
d. There is nothing worse than depriving someone of human
contact.

II. Summary Sequencing: Arrange the following events based on

the story by labeling the items from A to E on the space
provided before each number.

A.
___31. Fifteen years ago, a party was thrown at a banker's home, where
many intellectuals such a journalists and lawyers attended.
___32. The two sides of the debate coalesced into two representatives:
the banker, who is for capital punishment and believes that it is more
merciful, and a lawyer, who believes that life imprisonment is the better
option.
___33. The lawyer, young and idealistic, decides to up the ante and
makes the bet longer: 15 years.
___34.During that party, the group in attendance had many lively
discussions, ultimately turning to the topic of capital punishment.
___35. The banker and the lawyer decide to enter into a bet, with the
banker wagering that the lawyer could not withstand 5 years of
imprisonment.

B.
___36. At first, the lawyer does not comfort himself with any liquor or
tobacco, confining himself to playing the piano.
___37. The banker acquiesces and confirms the lawyer's suspicion that
he has mastered languages.
___38. For fifteen years, the lawyer lives on the banker's property, in a
small lodge, and has no human contact but he can have any item that he
desires.
___39. Later, the main focus of his time becomes books, as he searches
for adventures and comforts that he cannot possess physically.
___40. But as the years progress, he gives in and spends much of his
time drunk or asleep.

C.
___41.
___42.
___43. The banker acquiesces and confirms the lawyer's suspicion that
he has mastered languages.
___44.
___45.