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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How does Ishmael describe civilization’s progress in Chapter 7?
(a) As a building built on water
(b) As a corpse that has been kept alive artificially
(c) As the free-fall of an aircraft that does not accord with the laws of aerodynamics
(d) As a garden that has worn out the soil

2. How long does it take the narrator to come up with the laws Ishmael asked him to define?
(a) Four days
(b) One day
(c) Two weeks
(d) Three days

3. What does the law Ishmael believes the narartor is looking for in Chapter 8 prevent?
(a) Single-species dominance
(b) Civilization
(c) A howling chaos
(d) Injustice

4. What does Ishmael say happens to the Leavers that does not happen to the Takers?
(a) They die when the gods say
(b) They evolve
(c) Their population shrinks
(d) Their knowledge is jeopardized each generation

5. How does Ishmael say people think about prehistory, before the agricultural revolution?
(a) Idealistically
(b) Loathsome
(c) Intriguing
(d) Appealing

6. Why has the change in Chapter 9 come about?
(a) The narrator had requested it
(b) There was nothing more they could say without making this change
(c) Ishmael and the narrator have finally come to some fundamental understandings about culture
(d) Ishmael had made it a condition of their dialogue continuing

7. What is the second thing that the narrator says the Takers do, which is not done in nature?
(a) Turn killing into an abstract law
(b) Sell their produce
(c) Deny competitors access to food
(d) Steal other animals’ food

8. What is the literary term for Ishmael’s saying that he is cold?
(a) Foreshadowing
(b) Prophecy
(c) Falling action
(d) Denouement

9. What does Ishmael ask the narrator to leave and come back with in Chapter 11?
(a) A plan for his future care
(b) A genuine apology
(c) An explanation for his ailments
(d) A legitimate reason for asking about the Leavers

10. Where does the narrator reunite with Ishmael in Chapter 10?
(a) At a motel
(b) At another office building
(c) In the woods
(d) At a carnival

11. What is Art Owens’ negotiating style?
(a) He does not budge at all
(b) He is amenable to make sacrifices in order to find an agreeable proposal
(c) He is somewhat flexible
(d) He is hostile and suspicious, and only gives ground with a fight

12. What does Ishmael say keeps nature in balance?
(a) The process of natural selection
(b) The cycle of the seasons
(c) The relationship between feeders and predators
(d) The migration of birds and whales

13. What does Ishmael say is ironic about the story the Takers adopted about two thousand years ago?
(a) It had been created by their enemies
(b) The story did not originally have anything to do with them
(c) It had started as a joke
(d) It did not represent their beliefs

14. What keeps the narrator from returning to Ishmael the next day, after discussing Adam and Eve?
(a) Resistance to Ishmael’s teaching
(b) Car trouble
(c) A visiting uncle
(d) His work

15. What does the narrator tell Ishmael he wants to know in Chapter 11?
(a) The Leavers’ story
(b) Where Ishmael’s other students are
(c) Where the Sokolows have been
(d) Why he decided to teach

Short Answer Questions

1. What knowledge does Ishmael say the early flyers would have fond useful in their attempts?

2. When does Ishmael say the Take population will contract?

3. In Chapter 12, how does Ishmael say man became man?

4. Where does Ishmael say, in Chapter 7, they should look for a set of laws about how to live?

5. What method does the narrator say he would use, to deduce the laws of the group Ishmael describes in Chapter 7?

(see the answer keys)

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