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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. The various depictions of Fedora show what?
(a) Particular sections of the city.
(b) An idealized version of the city.
(c) What the city looks like at different times of the year.
(d) How the city appeared at different junctures in history.

2. How does Polo describe the people of Chloe?
(a) They are strangers to each other.
(b) They are most welcoming to newcomers.
(c) Great warriors train here.
(d) Everyone here is a teacher of some type.

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

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

5. 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) A fair with a roller coaster, carousel, and ferris wheel.
(d) Tent cities with the poorest of the poor.

6. When Marco Polo first tells his tales to Kublai Khan, he uses:
(a) A language Khan developed.
(b) An interpreter.
(c) Large words to impress Khan.
(d) Gestures and pantomimes.

7. At the beginning of Chapter 2, what do Khan's messengers warn of?
(a) Betrayal.
(b) Battles.
(c) Disease.
(d) Famines.

8. Where do the people of Isaura find water?
(a) In the city's aqueducts and reservoirs.
(b) From dew that forms on plants.
(c) Atop the highest mountain.
(d) Wherever they dig.

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

10. What creates connections between lives in Chloe?
(a) The city's 103-year-old patriarch.
(b) The fact that everyone is related to everyone else in some way.
(c) The way everyone lives in close, tight-knit communities.
(d) Something about their glances.

11. Anastasia is described as being full of precious and mundane objects such as:
(a) Onyx and agate.
(b) Gold and sea stones.
(c) Silver and shells.
(d) Turquoise and tin.

12. Polo offers two vantage points of Zemrude; one includes:
(a) Busy markets and bustling streets.
(b) Windmills and bright flowers.
(c) Flapping curtains, fountains, and windowsills.
(d) Walls with gaping holes.

13. In Hypatia, when Polo wants to see the sultan at the palace, who is he allowed to question instead?
(a) The sultan's shoemaker.
(b) The second in command.
(c) Servants.
(d) Philosophers.

14. When Polo goes to Hypatia, what does he learn?
(a) The essence of spiritual existence.
(b) The meaning of life.
(c) The mathematics behind its architecture.
(d) The nature of changing language.

15. When Polo speaks of Zemrude, one of the views he offers is filled with:
(a) Gutters, fish scales, and trash.
(b) Beggars, thieves, and tax collectors.
(c) Staircases that go nowhere.
(d) Old men and women with vacant eyes.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Polo explain that Zemrude's form is based on?

2. Whenever the emperor is in a good mood and says how splendid his empire is, he wants to know why Polo:

3. Why does Khan listen to Polo's stories so intently?

4. At times, Polo and Khan sit quietly to:

5. Polo wants to inform the emperor how much darkness is out there by focusing on:

(see the answer keys)

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