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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 did Chris do the summer after his sophomore year in college?
(a) He returned to Annandale and wrote a flawless software program.
(b) He took a cross country hike.
(c) He worked in a garage to make money to buy his Datsun.
(d) He spent the entire summer with his sister, Carine.

2. What sad discovery does Krakauer make just a quarter mile down stream on the river?
(a) There is evidence that Chris came that far and went back.
(b) At the now defunct station, a steel cable stretches across the river with an aluminum basket suspended from this cable by pulleys.
(c) There is a ranger station stocked with all kinds of food.
(d) There is an old bridge that a person could walk across.

3. A year after Chris's death, what did Krakauer observe on the banks of the Teklanika River where Chris had been unable to cross?
(a) The river was overflowing its banks.
(b) The ice was breaking up and the footing was dangerous.
(c) There are dangerous rocks just under the surface of the water.
(d) The river is indeed a wide, churning flow of water.

4. What did Walt leave in the bus?
(a) A memorial plaque.
(b) A flashlight and some batteries.
(c) A book about edible plants in the area.
(d) An emergency radio operated by a hand crank.

5. Chris's parents had moved, but his step brother was contacted. After he positively identified Chris, what did he do?
(a) Drove to Maryland to inform Chris's parents.
(b) Told his wife that he always knew Chris would end that way.
(c) Flew to Alaska to claim the body.
(d) Contacted Gillien to get more information.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Roman Dial, who teaches at the University of Alaska, interpret Chris's actions?

2. What did Billie leave in the bus?

3. How did the police know Chris's real last name?

4. What happened to Billie in July of 1992?

5. How does Krakauer interpret the evidence he gathered about Chris?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does swainsonine become lethal in the body?

2. What is so unusual about Chris's never seeing another human being while he was camped at the bus?

3. What discovery about himself did Krakauer make after conquering Devil's Thumb?

4. Carine knew that Chris was leaving but she didn't know where he was going. Why?

5. Explain Jim Gillien's difficulty in contacting the Alaska police.

6. To show his kindred spirit with Chris, what does Krakauer write about in Chapter 14?

7. Who was Sam McCandless, and why was he the one to notify Chris's parents?

8. What was the irony Krakauer thought about as he kept attempting to climb Devil's Thumb?

9. How did Chris manage the last leg of his trip into Fairbanks?

10. As Krakauer, visiting the site, stood on the banks of the raging Teklanika River, what advantage did he have that Chris did not have?

(see the answer keys)

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