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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What do the travelers find on a hill high over the sea in Smyrna?
(a) Broken idols.
(b) Rows and layers of oyster shells.
(c) A destroyed citadel.
(d) A huge field of poppies.

2. What tourist attraction does the group visit in Egypt?
(a) Necropolis of Saqqara.
(b) Temple of Luxor.
(c) The Lighthouse of Alexandria.
(d) The Egyptian pyramids.

3. What do the travelers do once they reach the River Jordan?
(a) Say a prayer.
(b) Take a nap.
(c) Go swimming.
(d) Drink the water.

4. According to Twain, what is wrong with the coffee on the ship?
(a) It is awful.
(b) It is an unlikely color.
(c) It is too weak.
(d) It tastes like dirt.

5. What does the marble slab inside the Church of Holy Sepulcher guard?
(a) The Holy Sepulchre.
(b) The Cross of Christ.
(c) The Stone of Unction.
(d) The Stone Bench.

Short Answer Questions

1. What offends Twain at the end of the story?

2. What do the Spaniards do to Twain's newspaper journal when he asks them to mail it?

3. What were the people who were taken aboard the ship in Chapter 57 fleeing?

4. Who asks Twain to write a summary of the excursion?

5. Why does the trip to Damascus have to be made in two days?

Short Essay Questions

1. The travelers finally reach Nazareth, once said to be home of the Holy Family. What does Twain do to try to make the significance of the place more real for him? Does his method appear to work?

2. On the one-year anniversary of the excursion, Twain returns to say an encore farewell. What does he say about the trip, and what advice does he give future excursionists?

3. Twain and his companions' awe at walking in Jesus' footsteps and perhaps touching the very surface he may have once touched continues. They come to the tiny village of Shunem. What is the village's main attraction for Twain?

4. What is it about Odessa that pleasantly surprises Twain and the other passengers?

5. Despite his earlier cynicism, Twain's faith in the locations and objects of Jerusalem seems unshakable, and he even challenges the reader to prove several hypotheses false. What are some examples of this almost blind faith, and what reasoning does Twain give to justify his unwavering belief?

6. What are some of the challenges faced by Twain and his friends when trying to guide their donkeys to Ephesus?

7. Describe some of the historical areas that the group can see from the hill 1,200 feet above the Lake of Galilee.

8. Twain finds himself quoting the writer of "Life in the Holy Land" referring to Palestine as monotonous and uninviting. However, Twain also offers his own description of Palestine. How does he feel about the area?

9. The group takes a trip to the Egyptian pyramids. What is their reaction to the pyramids, and what object garners the most admiration from the travelers? How much do they admire this object?

10. Describe the chaos in Constantinople as seen by Twain.

(see the answer keys)

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