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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. Which of these is not a city described by Polo in Chapter 2?

2. Which city is described as having buildings with spiral staircases and with spiral seashells encrusted in the staircases?

3. Polo says that Zaira is defined by:

4. At the conclusion of Chapter 1, Khan is completely satisfied with Polo's explanations but still remembers what?

5. When Khan describes cities to Polo, what does he tell Polo to do?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Describe the city of Zenobia.

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

4. What does Polo not know about Armilla?

5. In what way is Tamara a city of perceptions and symbols?

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

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

8. Located 80 miles northwest of Zenobia, what is the city of Euphemia like?

9. How is Maurilia connected to its past?

10. Describe life in Eutropia, which is made up of many individual cities of equal size.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Briefly compare and contrast the type of information Polo shares with Khan with what other messengers share with the emperor. Then, address the following questions:

1) What is the goal of Khan's messengers and advisers when they share reports with Khan?

2) What does Polo wish to convey to Khan? How do his storytelling goals differ from those of the other messengers?

3) In your opinion, who is sharing information that is most useful to the emperor--Polo or the other messengers? Why?

Essay Topic 2

Khan alternates between being pessimistic and being optimistic about his empire.

1) What concerns and hopes does Khan have about his empire? Cite specific examples.

2) How do Polo's stories fuel or soothe the emperor's worries and ambitions?

3) Seeing Khan at odds with himself, how does Polo use this opportunity to expand the emperor's understanding of the cities within his empire?

Essay Topic 3

In some of Polo's stories, he dissects cities in order to show Khan the bigger picture or the whole story. How does he dissect the cities of Olivia, Sophronia, Eutropia, and Zemrude in Chapter 4? Cite specific examples. How does dissecting these cities serve to paint the big picture so that the emperor can see these cities in their entirety? Explain.

(see the answer keys)

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