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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. Back at Oxford, what is evident about Badri?

2. How does Kivrin activate the recorder she has?

3. Who is another victim brought into the hospital as Dunworthy is speaking to Badri?

4. Who is in charge while the department head is out of town?

5. What is Kivrin now certain of?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Kivrin see when she wakes up and what does she think about it?

2. Who does Dunworthy try to communicate with again and what does he realize through talking with the man?

3. What is Ms. Montoya doing as Kivrin is preparing for her trip, and how is this related to Kivrin?

4. What are some of the problems of quarantine with which Dunworthy has to handle?

5. What does Kivrin write in her Doomsday Book in Chapter 14?

6. How does Colin explain his presence in the quarantine line?

7. What are Dunworthy and the others told when they are released from the hospital?

8. Describe James Dunworthy.

9. What is Kivrin trying to do in chapter 6 but having a hard time with?

10. Why is Kivrin having trouble understanding the people in the house and how does the situation improve?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In chapter 8, Dunworthy tries explaining to Gilchrist the "rules" of the net. Discuss the following:

1. Why is it impossible for the virus in the epidemic at Oxford in 2054 to have come through the net? Does the explanation seem to follow natural laws as we understand them in 2010?

2. Why can't Dunworthy just go back before the drop time and then retrieve Kivrin as she comes through?

3. Explain how slippage determines how far off one is when traveling back in time. Does the four-hour slippage that was a part of Kivrin's drop account for the twenty year difference between when she wanted to be dropped and when she actually is dropped? Why or why not.

4. Does the technology of the net and time travel seem stable enough that you would travel on it? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

Kivrin is found and taken to be nursed at the home of an upper class family. Discuss the following:

1. What do you think it says about the times and people that complete strangers are willing to take in a sick woman and care for her for days? Do you think they have any motives other than kindness? What would they be?

2. Kivrin seems to find a niche caring for the two daughters of Eliwys and seems to "join" the household. How likely is it that this sort of thing would happen in modern times? What do you think has changed from previous centuries that it is unlikely to happen in the 21st century America. Do you think it is a indication of a lack of compassion by "modern" humans? Or what?

3. Kivrin discovers her dress if finer and she is cleaner than anyone during this time. Does the family notice this fact? Does Kivrin attempt to blend in better by not bathing? Do you think even the highest nobles of the land (Kings, queens, dukes, etc...) were much cleaner than the family who takes Kivrin in? Why or why not.

Essay Topic 3

Whenever reading a science fiction or fantasy novel, one must become familiar with new terminology that explains concepts or technology that is not a part of the "real" world. In the case of Doomsday Book, much of the setting is familiar to the reader, though there are new ideas and terms to learn. Discuss the following:

1. Find five terms that are a part of the 2054 world of Dunworthy and Kivrin that are either not a part of the language of 2010 or mean something different. Define the words as used in 2054 and compare those five words as to how they are currently used in the American English language.

2. How does the language of 1348 differ from that of 2010? Are there words you did not know from that time? What? How do you learn their meanings?

3. There are ways of learning about a new world or time when reading a science fiction or fantasy novel. Discuss the ways you were able to understand the time of both 2054 and 1348. Did you have to look up any words? What does it mean to learn a word through its context? Do you have to do that in Doomsday Book? What word(s)?

4. Were there any words you never really understand from Doomsday Book? What are they?

(see the answer keys)

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