UNITED NATIONS – Congress is expected to renew pressure on the United Nations today, demanding hard evidence of reform at the world body shortly after it wrapped up a summit intended to advance such changes. One reform initiative that Turtle Bay is enacting is a newly designed quiz on ethics to be taken by all U.N. staff members.

The hearing at the House Committee on Foreign Relations, chaired by Rep. Henry Hyde, a Republican of Illinois, will feature appearances by the U.N. chief of staff, Mark Malloch Brown, and America’s U.N. ambassador, John Bolton, who will be asked about tangible reform progress.

“We will talk about reform and also about consequences” of failure to reform, a spokesman for Mr. Hyde, Sam Stratman, told The New York Sun. Consequences could include cuts in American funds to the U.N. budget, as detailed in recent House legislation sponsored by Mr. Hyde. Mr. Malloch Brown is expected to express opposition to such cuts, highlighting reform steps already taken by Secretary-General Annan.

A new bureaucracy meant to give Mr. Annan “independent advice” on oversight of the organization has just been created. The new body, which will include current high-ranking U.N. officials, will report directly to Mr. Annan.

In addition, staff members are now required to take a multiple-choice quiz on ethics. Those who pass the online test, composed of two sets of 20 questions each, will receive a certificate signed by Mr. Annan, which they must present to their superiors. The certificate bears an image of a Kenyan Masai wood carving representing a “sense of integrity that the United Nations, with its diverse, multicultural staff, relies upon to achieve its goals.”

Some questions on the quiz, called an “integrity awareness initiative” and seen by the Sun, have obvious answers: “All staff members ____ share the same United Nations core values,” says one. The answer choices are: “a) may b) must c) used to d) do not have to.”

Others hint at supposed real-life situations: “Before working at the United Nations you worked as a model. Recently, you were called by a famous photographer and asked to do a shoot for a serious magazine, for which you would earn quite a bit of money. What do you do?” The two options are: “a) Request permission from the United Nations,” and “b) You could accept the job without getting paid.” The explanation of the correct answer (a) notes that the responder is now “an international civil servant.”

Some questions seem more designed to prevent further erosion in Turtle Bay’s reputation than to preserve its integrity. One proposes a conversation at a dinner party in Kenya, where the test taking staffer is the only U.N. official at the table. Someone mentions a story in the local newspaper about a scandal involving the U.N. mission in the country.

Four short – and obviously wrong – answers suggest making no comment, denying ever having seen the story, saying that corruption is not unique to the United Nations, or saying that the U.N. is corrupt. The fifth answer is so much longer and detailed than the erroneous ones that it all but assures that the lesson will not be lost on the quiz-taker:

“You briefly acknowledge having read the story then stress that like in other organizations, it is the people that make it, and they are susceptible to human weakness. However, the overwhelming majority play by the rules. It may happen, as in any work place, that certain rules are broken, and that is why the United Nations has established a strong internal investigative mechanism. And it is the work of this investigative mechanism that has triggered the press reactions. (If pressed further, details maybe given on how the United Nations deals with such issues but no details should be given on pending investigations.)”