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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Maurilia was once:

2. Where do the people of Isaura find water?

3. In the city with the large metal building in its center, what's inside each room of the building?

4. Which city do visitors consider to be a trap?

5. When the people of Chloe pass each other in the street, what do they do?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Polo come to realize about language in Hypatia?

2. Why does Polo say that it is best to visit Diomira on a September evening?

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

4. How does Polo describe the young women of Armilla?

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

6. What do the different models of the city of Fedora show?

7. What is the significance of the evening breeze that Khan and Polo enjoy while conversing on the steps of the palace?

8. How does Khan react upon growing impatient with Polo's stories?

9. Even though Zobeide, the white city, was made from the dreams of many men of different nationalities, how do strangers see the place?

10. When Khan and Polo pause in between their conversations, pondering the meaning of what's been said, what does each imagine or visualize?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does Polo reveal the disintegration of Khan's empire through his stories? Explain and support your answer with points from the book.

Essay Topic 2

One of Polo's goals is to show the emperor that his cities cannot exist without connections holding each one together. Using examples from the book, explain how Polo elaborates on the theme of "connections within a city." Then, explain how his example of an arched stone bridge supports his premise that the cities are the sum of all of their connections.

Essay Topic 3

A common thread through Polo's tales of Khan's cities is "dreams and imagination." His stories are not only informative, but also extremely entertaining for the emperor thanks to the element of fantasy Polo employs.

1) Using specific examples from the book, explain how Marco Polo carries the theme of "dreams and imagination" in his stories.

2) How does this theme grab and hook Khan into Polo's tales?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 849 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample