(CNN) -- Noah Baumbach is emerging as an emotionally acute, not to say eviscerating, observer of the middle-class intelligentsia, the kind of people who write letters to "The New York Times" and might plausibly pop up in a Woody Allen movie.

Unlike the Woodman, Baumbach doesn't show his face on screen, but his films are no less personal for that: "The Squid and the Whale" was a sometimes wincingly autobiographical account of two boys torn between their divorcing parents, and he's not one to deflect an insight with a wisecrack. The cracks just cut deeper. I've rarely experienced an audience recoil from a character as passionately as they did to Nicole Kidman's toxically self-absorbed writer in "Margot at the Wedding" (maybe her best performance, incidentally). These are comedies in the sense that the characters are painfully ridiculous -- and all too recognizably real -- but Baumbach sure doesn't make it easy for himself, or us.

Roger Greenberg (Ben Stiller) is another neurotic narcissist, a middle-aged loner who comes back to Los Angeles to house-sit while his brother enjoys a long vacation in the Far East. Greenberg (only his brother calls him Roger) can feed the family dog, but the truth is that he desperately needs to regroup and recharge after a spell in a mental hospital.

He has one friend, Ivan (Rhys Ifans), who still has time for him and a wider circle of former friends who don't. We soon learn that Greenberg used to front a band, but it fell apart after he turned down a recording deal, and he's been in New York ever since, under-achieving on a permanent basis. What are the answers to this following set of questions: 1. Who is an observer of middle class intelligentsia?
2. Does he appear on screen?
3. What was the film about two boys?
4. Was it about their loving parents?
5. Who was in Margot at the Wedding?
6. Are these movies thrillers?
7. Who played Roger Greenberg?
8. What city does the character come back to?
9. To do what?
10. For whom?
11. Where was his brother going/
12. What does Greenburg do for the dog?
Answer: 1. Noah Baumbach
2. No
3. "The Squid and the Whale"
4. No
5. Nicole Kidman
6. No
7. Ben Stiller
8. Los Angeles
9. House-sit
10. His brother
11. Far East
12. Feed the family dog

Problem: Chapter II

Harry Clavering Chooses His Profession

Harry Clavering might not be an usher, but, nevertheless, he was home for the holidays. And who can say where the usher ends and the school-master begins? He, perhaps, may properly be called an usher, who is hired by a private schoolmaster to assist himself in his private occupation, whereas Harry Clavering had been selected by a public body out of a hundred candidates, with much real or pretended reference to certificates of qualification. He was certainly not an usher, as he was paid three hundred a year for his work--which is quite beyond the mark of ushers. So much was certain; but yet the word stuck in his throat and made him uncomfortable. He did not like to reflect that he was home for the holidays.

But he had determined that he would never come home for the holidays again. At Christmas he would leave the school at which he had won his appointment with so much trouble, and go into an open profession. Indeed he had chosen his profession, and his mode of entering it. He would become a civil engineer, and perhaps a land surveyor, and with this view he would enter himself as a pupil in the great house of Beilby & Burton. The terms even had been settled. He was to pay a premium of five hundred pounds and join Mr. Burton, who was settled in the town of Stratton, for twelve months before he placed himself in Mr. Beilby's office in London. Stratton was less than twenty miles from Clavering. It was a comfort to him to think that he could pay this five hundred pounds out of his own earnings, without troubling his father. It was a comfort, even though he had earned that money by "ushering" for the last two years.
1. how many candidates was Harry picked out of?
2. what was his job?
3. had he been hired by public school?
4. did he want to return home for the holidays?
5. what did he want to become?
6. what was he home for?
7. how far away was Stratton from Henry?
8. who was he meeting there?
9. for how long?
10. when was he going to leave school?
11. what was he planning to do?
12. what place did he want to become a pupil of?
13. who had he been hired by?
14. how much would he be paid?
15. is that more than a regular usher?
Answer: 1. out of a hundred
2. an usher
3. no
4. no
5. a civil engineer
6. the holidays.
7. less than twenty miles
8. Mr. Burton
9. twelve months
10. At Christmas
11. go into an open profession
12. the great house of Beilby & Burton
13. a private schoolmaster
14. three hundred a year
15. yes

question: The White family moves to a new city, but Mrs White's son, Bob, is not happy, because he doesn't have any friends to play with there. "Don't worry!" says Mrs White, "you'll soon make friends here." One morning, there is a knock on the door. Mrs White opens it and sees their neighbour Mrs Miller standing there. She comes to borrow two eggs to make some cakes. Mrs White gives her two eggs. In the afternoon, Mrs Miller's son, Jack comes to their home. He says to Mrs White, "my mother asks me to give some cakes and two eggs to you." "Well, thank you," says Mrs White. "Come in and meet my son, Bob." After Bob and Jack have the cakes, they go out to play football together. Jack says, "I am glad you live next door." Bob says, "I must thank your mother for coming to borrow eggs." Jack laughs and tells Bob, "My mother doesn't need any eggs, but she wants to make friends with your mother." Bob says, "Oh, I see. That's a clever way to make friends."
1. Where did the White's move to?
2. Why is Bob sad?
3. Who is his new friend?
4. Where does he live?
5. Who set them up to be friends?
6. Who knocked on the door?
7. Who answered?
8. What did she want?
9. For what?
10. Does Mrs. White loan them to her?
11. Did she really need the eggs?
12. Why did she ask for them?
13. What does Bob want to thank her for?
14. What does Jack think about that?
15. What does Jack bring over?
16. Who eats the cake?
17. What do they do after?
18. What does Bob think about the ploy to make friends?
19. What does Mrs. White say to Jack when he brings the cake
20. Who does she want him to meet?
****
answer:
1. a new city
2. because he doesn't have any friends to play with there
3. Jack
4. next door
5. Jack's mom
6. Mrs Miller
7. Mrs White
8. two eggs
9. To make some cakes
10. Yes
11. No
12. To make friends with Mrs White
13. Borrowing the eggs.
14. Glad
15. Cakes and eggs
16. Jack and Bob
17. play football
18. That it's clever
19. "Well, thank you"
20. Bob