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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What would Dillard suggest for food instead of creature eating creature?
(a) everyone being vegetarians
(b) no one needing food at all
(c) bread and water
(d) manna

2. What does the author think about the price of fish?
(a) the price is high due to overfishing
(b) fish are free for anyone to gather from the waters
(c) they're a cheap source of protein
(d) they cost more than beef

3. In Chapter 13, Dillard spies a snake. What kind is it?
(a) a black snake
(b) a brown water snake
(c) a copperhead
(d) a coral snake

4. The previous year, what did Hurricane Agnes do in the area?
(a) it missed the area, so it did nothing
(b) blew a tree down on top of Dillard's cabin
(c) dumped enormous amounts of rain
(d) wiped out all the flowers in the area

5. When Dillard saw migrating Canadian geese fly, speeding across the duck pond, what did she think?
(a) that she has never witnessed such energetic movement
(b) that it was time to get wood for the winter
(c) that she'd never seen so many large birds together
(d) that she should think about going south for the winter

6. What serves as a catalyst to ready the birds for migration?
(a) catepillers making cocoons
(b) the leaves turning colors
(c) the fall air
(d) lack of flowers in the landscape

7. Silvery eels swim to the sea after eight years of maturing in obscure creeks and rivers. What happens to them at the sea?
(a) they have offspring and bring them back in two years
(b) they lay eggs and then go into deep water for the rest of their lives
(c) they mate with other eels then return to the fresh water
(d) they lay their eggs and then die

8. How does Dillard finally reconcile a kind, loving creator with the carnage she observes in the natural world?
(a) by putting it out of her mind
(b) by reinterpreting the meaning of death
(c) by realizing there is no creator
(d) by realizing she's not smart enough to understand

9. What does the term the term "northing" mean?
(a) types of birds that don't migrate
(b) the name the Eskimoes use for themselves
(c) denotes traveling in a northerly direction
(d) someone who lives near the artic circle

10. In this book the author is not only striving to understand the natural world, but to understand this acceptance:
(a) the interplay of life and death
(b) humankind's place in the world
(c) the meaning of acceptance
(d) the creator behind that world

11. When a mosquito bites a snake, what happens?
(a) the mosquito dies from the snake blood
(b) nothing, mosquitoes feed on snakes
(c) the mosquito lays its eggs under the scales
(d) mosquitoes carry snake blood to other animals

12. Ultimately, at the end of the book, what is Dillard's overwhelming feeling?
(a) puzzlement
(b) anger
(c) depression
(d) joy

13. When moving towards a muskrat, how does one keep from scaring it?
(a) lay down and crawl on your belly
(b) sit still and hold your breath
(c) walk in the water
(d) move when the muskrat's head is turned away from your direction

14. Eskimos believe it is a great honor to be incarnated as what?
(a) a polar bear
(b) a human
(c) a tiger
(d) a blue whale

15. What does Dillard believe the flood shows about nature?
(a) nature can't be controlled
(b) it's destructive
(c) the effusiveness of creation
(d) nature doesn't like humans

Short Answer Questions

1. How large might a root system for winter rye grass plant grow?

2. What is the "Principle of Indeterminacy?"

3. When Dillard discovers so much violence and horror in the natural world, how does she feel?

4. How did the Romans use the horns of the altar?

5. The balance enables her to think about the beauty without doing what?

(see the answer keys)

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