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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the only thing the men can see at the book's beginning?
(a) The slate color of the water.
(b) The clouds in the sky.
(c) The lighthouse at Mosquito Inlet.
(d) The shark circling the boat.

2. Who is present at the opening of the novel?
(a) The captain.
(b) The correspondent.
(c) The cook.
(d) Four men inside the boat.

3. Who tries to calm the other men?
(a) The captain.
(b) The cook.
(c) The correspondent.
(d) The oiler.

4. Where is the lighthouse?
(a) At Mosquito Inlet.
(b) In Ireland.
(c) At Bumblee Cove.
(d) In Italy.

5. What does the oiler say near the end of Part 1?
(a) That he cannot row any longer.
(b) That he would rather be dead than continue this struggle.
(c) That they will soon be rescued.
(d) That it is too early to worry about either a life-saving station or a house of refuge.

6. What do the men search the shoreline for?
(a) Their families, awaiting their return.
(b) A restaurant.
(c) A hotel.
(d) A life-saving station or a house of refuge.

7. What does the captain try to do to their intruders?
(a) Capture them.
(b) Beat them with an oar.
(c) Shoot them.
(d) Shoo them away.

8. How do the men view the intruders?
(a) As disgusting and annoying.
(b) As friends.
(c) As an ominous omen.
(d) As potential food.

9. Who is exhaustion overtaking in Part 3?
(a) The two rowers and the man doing the bailing.
(b) The two rowers and the captain.
(c) The correspondent and the oiler.
(d) The cook and the captain.

10. Who is trying to figure out what he is doing on the boat?
(a) The oiler.
(b) The cook.
(c) The correspondent.
(d) The captain.

11. What determines the gravity of a situation?
(a) The age of the people involved.
(b) Nature.
(c) Perspective and view.
(d) The danger.

12. Whose nature is naturally more cynical than the others'?
(a) The correspondent.
(b) The cook.
(c) The oiler.
(d) The captain.

13. What is the oiler doing at the beginning of the novel?
(a) Constructing a makeshift sail.
(b) Eating dinner.
(c) Taking a nap.
(d) Taking his turn with the oars.

14. Who is the crew on the tiny boat?
(a) Three lifelong friends.
(b) Three close brothers.
(c) Three bitter enemies.
(d) Three unlikely shipmates.

15. How does the object in Part 2 taunt the men?
(a) The seaweed does not taunt the men.
(b) By making them hungry.
(c) By reminding them that the shore is far away.
(d) By reminding them of their impending deaths.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who dampens the others' spirits in Part 3?

2. Why are these four men on the tiny boat?

3. Why is it obvious that none of the other life boats have made it back to shore?

4. What is temporarily buoyed by the sight of the lighthouse?

5. Who is on the boat besides the cook, oiler, and captain?

(see the answer keys)

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