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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. Who knows about the destination for the upcoming trip of the USS Scorpion according to Dwight?
(a) only John Osbourne who carries sealed orders
(b) only Peter and him who have told Mary and Moira
(c) only Peter, John, and him
(d) everyone except him

2. Why are they quarantined on the Scorpion for a few days?
(a) to check thoroughly for contamination
(b) just as a precaution
(c) to lower the outside radiation levels
(d) an outbreak of measles

3. Where does Peter have an appointment?
(a) with the Mayor of Melbourne
(b) at the Navy Department in Melbourne
(c) at the Naval Hospital
(d) on the USS Scorpion

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

5. How do Moira and Dwight get to know each other better?
(a) sleeping in the same bed
(b) swimming in the ocean
(c) going over their personal histories
(d) taking long, silent walks

Short Answer Questions

1. What is John's uncle doing that he had given up for health reasons?

2. Why does Osbourne say that perhaps people did not deserve the world?

3. What social gathering have Peter and Mary just hosted as the story opens?

4. When does the story take place?

5. What does the USS Scorpion find when it emerges near Queensland?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do some people hold the hope that one day humans will again populate the Earth?

2. What does it mean that the people had all died tidily?

3. Explain why Peter, a navy lieutenant-commander, has not worked for the past seven months.

4. How is Moira Davidson dealing with the eminent threat of death by radiation?

5. Describe what the USS Scorpion crew sees everywhere they go.

6. What does John Osbourne estimate was the size of the nuclear war that was fought?

7. How had Dwight been warned of the possibility of the war?

8. Tell what is known about the global nuclear war.

9. How does the story begin?

10. How does Shute explain the proliferation of atomic weapons?

(see the answer keys)

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