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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. Which of the following do station crew note is mined from brine?

2. What game do Roman and Anton play together?

3. In which of the following are station crew reported to have trained?

4. Where does Nell note her spacesuit chafes?

5. To which of the following is Pietro compared?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Anton bring crackers and salt to the station?

2. Why are the station crew glad surveillance is stopped at night?

3. Why does the daytime view of the earth attract the station crew’s attention?

4. Why are there signs restricting toilet use on the station?

5. To what does Roman ascribe the feeling of déjà vu station crew have for spacewalking?

6. Why do the station crew eschew reading the news?

7. What does Pietro note the fisherman’s children know that their parents do not know or do not care to know?

8. Why do station crew have trouble moving their limbs?

9. Why is the southern tip of Spain reflective?

10. What does Chie note as the most common fate of dagashiya?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Consider the ending of the novel. Does it satisfy? How or how not?

Essay Topic 2

Into what medium is Orbital most apt for adaptation? What in the text tells you as much? How does it suggest that such an adaptation would work?

Essay Topic 3

What purpose is served by the novel’s note of the station’s deterioration? How is that purpose served? What effect does it have on reading?

(see the answer keys)

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