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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. Why does it not take long to bring Osbourne on board the submarine?
(a) most of his equipment is portable
(b) he is passed out drunk and carried onto the ship
(c) he is in a hurry to get started
(d) he will use the ship's equipment

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

3. What is John's uncle doing that he had given up for health reasons?
(a) eating cakes
(b) drinking port
(c) smoking cigars
(d) racing cars

4. What does John Osbourne calculate were dropped during the war?
(a) about 4,700 bombs
(b) all national loyalties
(c) warning leaflets
(d) diplomatic negotiations

5. What are some people putting on top of Mount Kosciusko?
(a) family photographs
(b) a white flag
(c) a monument
(d) a time capsule

Short Answer Questions

1. Although radiation has reached Townsville, northern Australia, what is the situation?

2. What assignment does Peter receive?

3. What have Peter and Mary learned to do because of the shortages?

4. Why was the war limited to the Northern hemisphere?

5. What has happened at the outset of the novel?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the problem with Moira's ability to understand what has happened in the world?

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

3. In what way does Dwight hold out some hope for the situation?

4. Explain Moira's answer that she will face the facts of life next September.

5. How has the boisterous revelry of the townspeople changed over the past year?

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

7. What is of special interest about the radio signals coming from around Seattle?

8. Why did governments resort to using nuclear weapons?

9. What is the consensus about which countries actually started the war?

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

(see the answer keys)

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