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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 is the real name for the Great Silence?

2. According to the narrator of "The Great Silence," what type of learners are parrots?

3. What does the European missionary promise to teach Jijingi?

4. How does the narrator of "The Great Silence" describe humanity’s actions regarding the near-extinction of its species?

5. What is a second solution to the Great Silence, according to the narrator of the story with the same name?

Short Essay Questions

1. In "The Great Silence," who was Alex, and what did he demonstrate to humans?

2. What is the Fermi Paradox? What are two solutions that attempt to solve it?

3. As stated in "Omphalos," how old is the universe? How have scientists learned this information?

4. Who is Arthur Lawson and what has he discovered? What does this discovery indicate?

5. What does the narrator of "The Great Silence" say is notable about the word "aspiration" on page 234?

6. What does Jijingi learn about the written versus the spoken word, thanks to Reiss in "The Truth of Facts, the Truth of Feeling"?

7. How is Edmund a product of his childhood in "Dacey's Patent Automatic Nanny"?

8. What is mimi in "The Truth of Facts, the Truth of Feeling"? What is vough?

9. As explained in "Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom," what is a prism? What does it allow the user to do?

10. According to Dana on page 329 of "Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom," why do a person's actions matter?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The extinction of a species is integral to “Exhalation,” “The Great Silence,” and “The Lifecycle of Software Objects.” Discuss how this theme influences the characters in each story.

Essay Topic 2

Internal conflicts are apparent in nearly every story in the collection. Discuss three different characters (from three different stories) who experience a conflict with themselves. Explain the nature of the conflict, how it is (or is not resolved), and how it impacts the story’s plot.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay analyzing how the author uses characters and behaviors to develop and strengthen the theme of faith.

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