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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. At what time of day does the novel begin?

2. Which of the following receives an evacuation order in the novel?

3. Which of the following does the novel equate to “wow”?

4. Where does Roman live?

5. How many seconds less than someone on earth does a member of the station crew age in six months?

Short Essay Questions

1. What question does Shaun’s teacher ask about Las Meninas?

2. Why had the moon mission astronauts been treated to a special meal on their last night on earth?

3. How does Pietro regard being an astronaut?

4. Why are the station crew not allowed new underwear daily?

5. Why does the station boast a Happy Birthday banner?

6. Why does the fisherman not flee from the typhoon?

7. Why are the station crew advised to anchor themselves in time?

8. How are the cells with which Anton and Roman work derived?

9. Why must the station crew exercise for hours daily?

10. To what does the novel compare the experience of traveling from earth to the station?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Sources attest to the presence of Orbital on best-seller lists. Assuming that sales figures reflect popularity, what accounts for the popularity of the novel? How does it do so?

Essay Topic 2

Assuming that Orbital should be standard reading for a given class and level, what class and what level? Why that class and why that level? What in the text suggests as much, and how does it do so?

Essay Topic 3

How does Orbital consider the tension between restraint and freedom? That is, what does the novel say about how the concepts interact with one another? What in the text does the saying, and how does it do so?

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This section contains 542 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample