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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. In Part One: Chapter 4, when did Sydney Ringer discover that he could make a dead frog's heart beat by bathing it in sugared saline?

2. In Part One: Chapter 1, how many years did Jahren's father teach introductory physics and earth science?

3. In Part One: Chapter 8, how many seeds does a hackberry tree produce in its lifetime?

4. In Part Two: Chapter 2, how many McDonald's cheeseburgers did Bill buy when they were 25 cents a piece?

5. In 2009, how long had Jahren been a professor?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Part Two: Chapter 5, what does Jahren say about a tree's budget?

2. In Part One: Chapter 8, how did Jahren feel when she discovered what the seed of a hackberry was comprised of?

3. In Part One: Chapter 9, how did Jahrens reveal that stems functioned?

4. In Part One: Chapter 9, how often would trees lose a limb?

5. In Part Two: Chapter 6, what does Jahren say about vines?

6. In Part One: Part 4, how did Lydia act when Jahren told her that she was quitting the pharmacy?

7. In Part One: Chapter 1, why did the author's mother have to quit college?

8. In Part Two: Chapter 8, how does a barrel cactus survive in the dessert?

9. In Part Two: Chapter 7, what did Jahren do to try to find time for everything she had to do?

10. In Part One: Chapter 5, what did Jahren say about the deepest-growing roots?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In the early years, Jahren struggled to gain respect from her peers. Why was Jahren not respected as a scientist? How did being a woman affect the respect she received? How did the lack of respect affect her ability to get grants and do her research? How did she finally gain respect?

Essay Topic 2

Jahren suffered from mental illness. How did Jahren first try to deal with her mania? How did the mania negatively influence her life? How did she get help? What was communicated about mental illness and how it affected everyday life?

Essay Topic 3

Jahren stated that trees had budgets. In what way did trees have budgets? How did those budgets rule their lives? How did budgets rule Jahren’s life? How did being constrained by budgets affect the lives of trees and Jahren’s life?

(see the answer keys)

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