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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. At Euphemia, how many different nations gather to trade?

2. Moving southward for three days from the city of Zaira, what city would one encounter?

3. When describing the cities of Eutropia, Polo explains that:

4. Polo says that Zaira is defined by:

5. When Polo speaks of Zemrude, one of the views he offers is filled with:

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens from time to time to the temporary part of the city of Sophronia?

2. How is Maurilia connected to its past?

3. When Khan instructs Polo to find the city from his dreams that has a north-facing harbor from which ships regularly leave as the people ashore wave their last goodbyes, what does Polo say?

4. What is the significance of the large metal building located at the center of Fedora?

5. What do the different models of the city of Fedora show?

6. Explain why Polo says that one cannot forget the city of Zora.

7. Why does Polo say its pointless to try to describe the city of Zaira?

8. When Khan and Polo pause in between their conversations, pondering the meaning of what's been said, what does each imagine or visualize?

9. Describe life in Eutropia, which is made up of many individual cities of equal size.

10. Describe the gods in the two religions of Isaura.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Which of the two characters, Khan or Polo, has a more realistic understanding of the state of the empire? Which would you say has a more hopeful view of the empire's future? Support your answers with examples from the story.

Essay Topic 2

After hearing Polo tell so many varied, interesting stories reflecting the state of Khan's empire, what conclusion does the emperor reach? What has he been trying to learn all along from Polo's stories? Does he get the information he seeks? What does Khan decide or realize about his empire by the end of the book?

Essay Topic 3

In many of Polo's stories, there is a strong relationship between the living and the dead.

Part 1) Give specific examples from the book of cities that exhibit some type of connection between those who are alive and those who have passed on.

Part 2) Why does Polo cover this theme? Why does he return to it again and again? What is he trying to establish, either for himself or for the emperor, regarding the interconnectedness of the living and the dead?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 840 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample