View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Darwin realized correctly that at the center of every atoll was what?
(a) An extinct volcano.
(b) A continental Slope.
(c) A deep cavern.
(d) A fault line.

2. Prior to the digging of the canal, Chicago’s waste ran into the Chicago River and into Lake Michigan, which led to what regular outbreaks?
(a) Typhoid and Cholera.
(b) Scarlet Fever and Yellow Fever.
(c) Bird Flu and Swine Flu.
(d) Consumption and West Nile Virus.

3. How deep is Devil’s Hole at its deepest?
(a) At least 5,000 feet deep.
(b) At least 500 feet deep.
(c) At least 50 feet deep.
(d) At least 1,500 feet deep.

4. To what does Kolbert compare being hit by a jumping carp?
(a) Being knocked out in a boxing ring.
(b) Being hit by a wiffle-ball bat.
(c) Being smacked in the face.
(d) Being struck by a truck.

5. Why is the Kaneohe Bay a prime location for studying and creating super coral?
(a) It had been a sewage dumping ground but the reef started to revive on its own.
(b) The coral has never suffered from bleaching.
(c) The coral population has only continued to grow.
(d) It is filled with coral reefs.

6. What are CSOs?
(a) College of South Orleans.
(b) Centers for Sewage Output.
(c) Collection Systems Overflows.
(d) Combined Sewer Overflows.

7. Why is one of the locals at the town hall meeting against the creation of holes in the levees?
(a) Anything man-made leads to trouble.
(b) The holes are only a short-term solution.
(c) There are not enough holes.
(d) The holes will let in too much water.

8. After a week with Gates, how does Kolbert feel?
(a) Nervous.
(b) Sad.
(c) Inspired.
(d) Angry.

9. Why are Kolbert and Gates’ plans to meet cancelled?
(a) Gates has lesions on her brain she hoped to have treated in Mexico.
(b) Both women were too busy.
(c) The institute was under construction.
(d) A huge storm cancelled their plans.

10. What is NOT a reason for why Devil’s Hole is a geological oddity?
(a) It holds water left over from the Pleistocene age.
(b) The fish were washed here when the whole area had more water and have never been able to leave.
(c) The cavern is narrow in some areas and very deep in others, much like a swimming pool.
(d) The pupfish have evolved to survive in the harsh conditions of Devils Hole.

11. What happens if coral is unable to acquire new symbionts after a heatwave?
(a) They begin to shrink.
(b) They grow lonely.
(c) They turn white.
(d) They starve to death.

12. With whom does Kolbert ride in a boat far down along the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal?
(a) The Clean Water Act Organization.
(b) The United States Army Corps of Engineers.
(c) Rachel Carson.
(d) The Friends of the Chicago River.

13. How much of the Caribbean coral disappeared in the 1980s?
(a) 90%.
(b) Over 1/2.
(c) 2/3.
(d) 1/4.

14. How did Ruth Gates fall in love with the ocean?
(a) Growing up near the ocean.
(b) Summers spent by the sea.
(c) Classes at the zoo as a kid.
(d) Watching TV as a kid.

15. What is NOT something that Kolbert says human domination over nature has caused?
(a) More species diversity and safer drinking water.
(b) Earthquakes.
(c) Dammed and diverted rivers.
(d) Large amounts of nitrogen and carbon dioxide.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the name Kolbert gives for the ability for humans to now watch other species go extinct?

2. Why do people in Asia not want to buy Asian carp from the U.S.?

3. In Kolbert’s observations in and near Chicago, Asian carp, when caught, are then processed into what?

4. When Kolbert visits the United States Army Corps of Engineers’ location in Chicago soon after her cruise down the sewage canal, she meets with whom?

5. What is wrong with the Wood Screw Pumps in the twenty-four pumping stations that pump water out of the city?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 711 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample