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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 3 — Dependence.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What kind of system does Gawande compare human bodies to?
(a) Automobiles.
(b) Kitchen appliances.
(c) Nuclear power plants.
(d) Wind-up toys.

2. What does Gawande say is the greatest threat elderly people face?
(a) Falling.
(b) Choking.
(c) Blindness.
(d) Heart attacks.

3. What does Gawande say he tried to impress on Lazaroff?
(a) The likelihood the treatment would fail.
(b) The chance of paralysis after surgery.
(c) The inevitability of death.
(d) The risks of surgery.

4. When were retirement communities popularized in the U.S.?
(a) 1950s.
(b) 1970s.
(c) 1960s.
(d) 1980s.

5. What does Gawande say Montaigne said about dying of old age?
(a) It is the cruelest form of dying.
(b) It is the extremest form of dying.
(c) It is the most natural form of dying.
(d) It is the kindest form of dying.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is Gawande’s relation to Alice Hobson?

2. How does Gawande characterize the plot of a person’s health for most of history?

3. How did Gawande’s grandfather and his wife avoid starving to death as newlyweds?

4. Why does Gawande say we do not have “the kind of old age” our grandfathers had (20)?

5. What was Gawande’s father’s profession?

(see the answer key)

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