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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why does Peter not hold out much hope for a naval assignment?
(a) there are only seven small ships left in the Navy
(b) there are too many officers ahead of him
(c) there is not enough fuel to operate ships
(d) there is nothing the ships can do

2. What has happened at the outset of the novel?
(a) the USS Scorpion is lost at sea
(b) the people of Melbourne, Australia, hold car races
(c) news media reports a pending nuclear war
(d) nuclear destruction of the Northern hemisphere

3. Why is there a shortage of fuel?
(a) the reserves have all been contaminated
(b) only the military has access to reserves
(c) the oil pipelines were all blown up
(d) it all used to come from the Northern hemisphere

4. What are Peter and Mary doing while Dwight and Moira attend church?
(a) digging a cellar
(b) going for a swim
(c) sailing a boat
(d) planning a garden

5. What have Peter and Mary learned to do because of the shortages?
(a) make their own butter
(b) raise chickens for eggs
(c) weave cloth
(d) knit socks

6. Why does Peter not take the car to Melbourne?
(a) the tires are flat
(b) there is very little gasoline left in the country
(c) the car refuses to start
(d) the car needs some new parts

7. In Australia, what do they figure will go a little before Sydney?
(a) Tasmania
(b) Cape Town
(c) Melbourne
(d) Perth

8. What will happen when the radiation covers the Southern hemisphere?
(a) everyone on Earth will be dead
(b) it will be safe to head north
(c) global warming will cause floods
(d) rabbits and dogs will die first

9. What are the people of Melbourne doing to cope with the reality of pending death?
(a) having large family reunions
(b) pretending the threat does not exist
(c) having boisterous, uninhibited and lighthearted parties
(d) attending church services

10. What does Mary do to protect the baby from the measles?
(a) forbids Peter to come home
(b) puts up a mosquito net
(c) feeds the baby quinine
(d) takes the baby to the Davidsons

11. Where was Peter stationed when the war started?
(a) at a radar station in Tasmania
(b) on board the H.M.A.S. Anzac
(c) on board the U.S.S. Scorpion
(d) at the Naval Base in Melbourne

12. How does Dwight want to think about people in the Northern hemisphere?
(a) that they are all alive
(b) that the war never happened
(c) that they have gone underground
(d) that they are all headed south

13. Who is in command on the USS Scorpion?
(a) Captain John Smith
(b) Lieutenant Commander Darrel Towers
(c) Admiral John Osbourne
(d) Commander Dwight Towers

14. What does Dwight announce for their next voyage?
(a) sailing completely around the world
(b) looking for inhabitable places in the Arctic
(c) looking for underwater places to build a city
(d) putting a man ashore in protective clothing

15. What does Moira say about the way people are going on with their lives?
(a) that's the way Australians are
(b) keeping busy helps everyone prepare
(c) she's not brave enough to do that
(d) no one believes the end will come

Short Answer Questions

1. Who do Peter and John meet at the Pastoral Club in Melbourne?

2. When is the radiation expected to reach Australia?

3. What are Dwight and Peter ordered not to do on the upcoming cruise?

4. What are some people putting on top of Mount Kosciusko?

5. How does Dwight react to the country?

(see the answer keys)

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