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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. In Armilla, what is one likely to catch a glimpse of?
(a) Young women bathing in the many tubs and showers.
(b) Children flying colorful, dragon-shaped kites in the distance.
(c) Young boys fishing with their bare hands in the river.
(d) Prayer flags fluttering from rooftops.

2. What does Polo explain that Zemrude's form is based on?
(a) The hope of its people.
(b) The dream of the dreamer.
(c) The traveler's mood.
(d) The orientation of the sky.

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

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

5. 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) Old men and women with vacant eyes.
(d) Staircases that go nowhere.

Short Answer Questions

1. Polo describes a city with two forms of religion. In one, the gods live in a subterranean lake. In the other, the gods live where?

2. What does Polo see rising vertically in Armilla?

3. Polo explains that if he describes Olivia as rich in products and profits, the emperor should realize that:

4. What theme runs through Chapter 4 with regard to how Polo tells his tales?

5. Which is the city of perceptions and symbols, where items are valuable because of what they represent, not what they really are?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Khan react to Polo's stories when he's feeling euphoric about his empire?

2. Why does Polo say its pointless to try to describe the city of Zaira?

3. Explain why Polo says that one cannot forget the city of Zora.

4. Describe the gods in the two religions of Isaura.

5. What does Polo not know about Armilla?

6. Why does Kublai Khan listen to Marco Polo's fantastic stories about cities he's visited?

7. How does the information provided to Khan by his other messengers differ from what Polo shares?

8. Why would you say the cities described by Polo in Chapter 3 have an especially dreamy quality about them?

9. What special ability does the mirror image of Valdrada possess?

10. Describe how the means of communication between Khan and Polo evolves.

(see the answer keys)

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