View a FREE sample

This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Whenever the emperor is in a good mood and says how splendid his empire is, he wants to know why Polo:
(a) Doesn't bring back more souvenirs.
(b) Has stopped traveling.
(c) Criticizes the people of his empire.
(d) Focuses on inessential and disappointing things.

2. When do merchants from many different nations gather at Euphemia to trade?
(a) The first of the year.
(b) Every solstice and equinox.
(c) Immediately following the harvest.
(d) Every full moon.

3. This peninsular city can be reached by ship or camel, revealing itself to travelers by both land and sea:
(a) Irma.
(b) Tamara.
(c) Isaura.
(d) Despina.

4. As Kublai Khan listens to the reports of his envoys and tax collectors while walking through his garden, his messengers speak in languages that:
(a) He doesn't understand.
(b) They made up.
(c) He developed.
(d) Are understood only by members of royalty.

5. When Khan describes cities to Polo, what does he tell Polo to do?
(a) Tell him if they exist.
(b) Predict their future success.
(c) Tell him whether or not he's been there.
(d) Offer what is most beautiful in each city.

6. Which city do visitors consider to be a trap?
(a) Armilla.
(b) Valdrada.
(c) Zenobia.
(d) Zobeide.

7. According to Polo, what is found in half of Sophronia?
(a) Markets selling the riches of the world.
(b) An observatory with a large telescope and wise astrologers.
(c) Tent cities with the poorest of the poor.
(d) A fair with a roller coaster, carousel, and ferris wheel.

8. Polo tells Khan that the second half of Sophronia is filled with what?
(a) Factories, palaces, slaughterhouses, and schools.
(b) Markets, hen houses, silkworm farms, and poppy fields.
(c) Universities, observatories, and libraries.
(d) Gardens, statues, and fountains.

9. If a traveler walks into Zemrude with his head held down by grief, how will he see the city?
(a) Brilliantly lit.
(b) In decline.
(c) From above.
(d) Void of color.

10. Which city is described as having buildings with spiral staircases and with spiral seashells encrusted in the staircases?
(a) Anastasia.
(b) Dorothea.
(c) Diomira.
(d) Isidora.

11. When one leaves Zenobia and travels for six days and seven nights, where would one end up?
(a) Zobeide.
(b) Zoey.
(c) Zapata.
(d) Zoroastria.

12. What is Eutropia composed of?
(a) A number of equally sized cities.
(b) One large city surrounding a smaller city.
(c) Island cities within a vast lake.
(d) Three cities separated from each other by a lake.

13. Polo states that Dorothea can be described by its canals, towers, people, and history, or how else?
(a) Through the eyes of an old woman.
(b) In terms of youthful memory.
(c) By the skies each evening paints.
(d) Through the artist's paintbrush.

14. Polo says that each action in Valdrada is inverted in:
(a) Its mirror image.
(b) The future.
(c) Its monthly plays.
(d) Another dimension.

15. Which city has supposedly languished and deteriorated, forgotten by the earth?
(a) Zora.
(b) Zirma.
(c) Isaura.
(d) Tamara.

Short Answer Questions

1. Once Polo is able to speak a language that Khan understands, he can:

2. When the emperor and the traveler grow quiet in order to reflect on what was just said, the emperor sometimes:

3. Khan's messengers advise him on the price of:

4. When Polo goes to Hypatia, what does he learn?

5. When Polo speaks of Zemrude, one of the views he offers is filled with:

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 596 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample