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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What word from Chapter 8 refers to a mark of disgrace or infamy; a stain or reproach, as on one's reputation?
(a) Aphasia.
(b) Dementia.
(c) Atria.
(d) Stigma.

2. What refers to any one of a number of viruses that infect bacteria?
(a) Ventricles.
(b) Lymphocyte.
(c) Bacteriophage.
(d) Endorphins.

3. The author states that he is entering what decade in his life in the Epilogue?
(a) The seventh.
(b) The sixth.
(c) The fifth.
(d) The eighth.

4. What is the title of Chapter 12?
(a) “The Life of a Virus and the Death of a Man.”
(b) “Lessons Learned.”
(c) “A Valentine—and How it Fails.”
(d) “A Strangled Heart.”

5. When was The Water-Babies, A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby published?
(a) 1918.
(b) 1824.
(c) 1883.
(d) 1863.

Short Answer Questions

1. What autobiography did Lewis Thomas publish?

2. The author writes in the Epilogue, “A family grasps at a straw that comes in the form of” what?

3. When did symptoms indicate that Ishmael Garcia’s lungs were infected?

4. Robert DeMatteis only accepted treatment for his cancer at the urging of whom?

5. According to the author in Chapter 10, contemporary medicine is responsible for the five-year remission rate of childhood leukemia now being nearly what percent?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the underlying influence for a person’s capacity for hope when facing terminal disease, according to the author in Chapter 11?

2. Why is understanding the finite quality of life important, according to Dr. Sherwin B. Nuland?

3. What is the central message in Chapter 12? How is hope related to this message?

4. According to the author in Chapter 11, what is most often the influencing factor in treating the terminally ill?

5. How does the author describe the development of HIV and AIDS knowledge in the medical community in Chapter 8?

6. What does the author assert regarding assisted suicide for the elderly in Chapter 7?

7. What does the author state regarding dignity in death in the Epilogue?

8. Why does the author use chimney sweeps as an example in Chapter 10?

9. How much money goes into the study of HIV, according to the author in Chapter 8? What have been the results of those studies?

10. How does the author begin Chapter 12? What does Dr. Nuland cite as his learning experiences in this chapter?

(see the answer keys)

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