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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. What do they see in the sky over Piedmont?

2. What does Stone find out about project Scoop on the way to the Wildfire lab?

3. What does Lt. Shawn do as he approaches Piedmont?

4. When the communication specialist checks the equipment, what does he find?

5. Who do they find alive in the town?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the Odd Man Hypothesis. Do you think it's a good idea?

2. What decontamination processes do the men go through on Level 2, 3 and 4?

3. Write about the procedure the three planes used to look at and take pictures of Piedmont and the capability of the scavenger spy plane.

4. What is it about the narration, the characters and the plot thus revealed that makes you want to read further?

5. Describe Major Arthur Manchek.

6. What does Manchek do after reviewing the intelligence with Jagger?

7. What is Jagger's job and what does he say about the reconnoiter photos and what they show.

8. Write about the first pages of the book and what the author does to grab the reader's attention.

9. On level 1 what does Stone tell the men when he briefs them about the Wildfire lab?

10. Why does Stone believe the Wildfire lab has "the capability to deal with an unknown biologic agent."?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

One theme explored in this book relates to the rising fear in the mid-twentieth century that mankind would become slaves to technology. Do you think this is possible? Why? Give examples of what you believe illustrates this fear. Do you believe you've become a slave to technology in your own life? How? Why?

Essay Topic 2

Describe Dr. Leavitt. Did you like him? Does he remind you of anyone you know? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

The folly of trusting automated processing above human supervision is first shown by the printer jam early in the book, and yet many of our systems, from communications to financial are automated or at least depend heavily upon computers and other machines. Do you think it's reasonable for humans to rely so heavily upon "machines?" Describe the advantages and disadvantages of such a dependence.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,659 words (approx. 6 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample