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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What term from Norse mythology meaning "great winter" is used in Part 1, Section 12?
(a) Codowintre.
(b) Fimbulwinter.
(c) Intuwintre.
(d) Ixbewinter.

2. Who wrote Madame Bovary?
(a) Bankim Chandra Chatterjee.
(b) Stephen Jay Gould.
(c) Gustave Flaubert.
(d) Stanislaw Lem.

3. On what night did the author read about a cataclysmic tsunami set off by a massive undersea earthquake in the Indian Ocean, according to his narrative in Part 1, Section 9?
(a) September 3, 2001.
(b) July 2, 2005.
(c) December 25, 2004.
(d) March 2, 1975.

4. When did the site of today's Mumbai first come under European rule when it was ceded to the Portuguese by the ruler of Gujarat?
(a) 1602.
(b) 1535.
(c) 1556.
(d) 1502.

5. Along what river did the author's parents live in their homeland?
(a) The Padma River.
(b) The Feni River.
(c) The Ganges River.
(d) The Meghna River.

6. When did Hurricane Sandy hit New York?
(a) 2005.
(b) 2016.
(c) 2012.
(d) 2009.

7. When does the author describe a descending hailstorm in north Delhi in the beginning of Part 1, Section 5?
(a) March 12, 1982.
(b) September 5, 2018.
(c) June 12, 1975.
(d) March 17, 1978.

8. What movie does the author reference in Part 1, Section 1 as an illustration of the inanimate being revealed to be animate?
(a) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
(b) The Empire Strikes Back.
(c) Mummy.
(d) Raiders of the Lost Ark.

9. Where did the author's forebearers resettle after the flooding of their first village?
(a) Pataukhali.
(b) Dhaka.
(c) Sythet.
(d) Bihar.

10. Who wrote, more than a quarter of a century ago, "We live in a post-natural world" (33)?
(a) Bill McKibben.
(b) Stanislaw Lem.
(c) Gustave Flaubert.
(d) George Marshall.

11. Who wrote Paradise Lost?
(a) Stanislaw Lem.
(b) Gustave Flaubert.
(c) John Milton.
(d) Alfred Wegener.

12. According to the author in Part 1, Section 10, how many passengers does Mumbai's suburban railway network transport on weekdays?
(a) 3.4 million passengers.
(b) 7.5 million passengers.
(c) 6.6 million passengers.
(d) 1.9 million passengers.

13. In what century were Mumbai, Chennai, New York, and Charleston founded?
(a) The 18th century.
(b) The 16th century.
(c) The 17th century.
(d) The 16th century.

14. What shoreside town of the Nicobar Islands does the author describe having been reduced to its foundations after the tsunami in Part 1, Section 9?
(a) Arong.
(b) Rangat.
(c) Malacca.
(d) Tamaloo.

15. When did Cyclone Storm Chapala hit the shores of Yemen?
(a) May 6, 2017.
(b) June 4, 2011.
(c) September 6, 2014.
(d) November 3, 2015.

Short Answer Questions

1. What neighborhoods of Long Island does the author describe looking out of on a flight into J.F.K. and thinking they were sure to be swamped in a storm surge in Part 1, Section 9?

2. To what does the author attribute the tendency for the proximity to water being a status symbol in Part 1, Section 9?

3. When did King Charles II marry Catherine of Graganza?

4. When did Hurricane Catarina stike the coast of Brazil?

5. When did the great river that bordered the author's parents' homeland suddenly change course, drowning the village?

(see the answer keys)

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