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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. One branch of Jewish philosophy believes that part of the responsibility of humans is to do what?
(a) planting trees
(b) to experience the moment
(c) stand in for God with the animals
(d) to help God by hallowing creation

2. Dillard wrote, "the present is fleet." What did she mean by this statement?
(a) the present is the future
(b) the present is like a group of ships
(c) there is no present
(d) the present goes by so quick one can barely glimpse it

3. What does Dillard believe is healing?
(a) white clouds in blue skies
(b) sunshine
(c) soothing music
(d) flowing water

4. What did the animal in question #1 often leave on Dillard's nightgown?
(a) a dead mouse
(b) wet, slimy mud off his paws
(c) cat hairs
(d) bloody, rose-shaped paw prints

5. What is the analogy she draws between the snake skin and the seasons?
(a) snakes shed skins in accordance with the seasons
(b) there is no analogy between snakes and seasons
(c) seasons are a continuous loop, just as she thought the snakeskin was
(d) snakes move depending on the season

6. What does Dillard say can be as blinding as complete darkness?
(a) some camp lanterns
(b) too much light
(c) a mind that is closed
(d) a full moon at midnight

7. In addition to form and texture, what does the author believe influences beauty?
(a) color
(b) time of day
(c) time
(d) perception

8. What does Dillard see as a passive mystery?
(a) if there are fish in the creek
(b) if her brother would enjoy life in Tinker Creek
(c) if nature is benign
(d) the mountains around her

9. Dillard believes that "weather overlaps" which causes what?
(a) snow on Easter
(b) there is only a few weeks of any season that is distinguishable from the former or following
(c) rain in the backyard and sun in the front yard
(d) sun shining when it's raining

10. What causes most insects' behavior?
(a) external stimuli
(b) innate programming
(c) imitating parents
(d) the structure of their exoskeleton

11. After she examines the snake skin closely, what does she figure out?
(a) it was not a snake but a long, skinny lizard
(b) it was not real
(c) she realizes that the snake had turned parts of the skin inside out, making it appear as though the skin is in a knot
(d) it was alive

12. What did Dillard do at one time about insects as a child?
(a) watched them in the grass with a magnifying glass
(b) shooed them out of the house before her mother could kill them
(c) killed bugs with carbon tetrachloride and then pinned them on labeled boards
(d) catch fireflies in glass jars to watch them glow

13. How do humans insulate themselves from the present, according to the author?
(a) by continuously reviewing images of the past and future in their minds
(b) by wearing clothes appropriate to the weather
(c) by lying to themselves and others
(d) by blocking out the past

14. How long does it take a tree to recreate ninety-nine percent of its living parts?
(a) one year
(b) a lifetime
(c) thirty days
(d) twenty-five years

15. Dillard sees so much in the natural world which seems paradoxical. Why?
(a) because the same plant could heal you or kill you
(b) because large trees would block the sun from smaller ones
(c) she saw beauty side by side with horrors
(d) because half the day had sun, half did not

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the translation of trompes-l' esprit ?

2. Why do the male praying mantis come near the female?

3. What does the author believe separates humans from their creator and humans from each other?

4. How do ladybugs hibernate?

5. At a ranch, Dillard drew a horse. It wasn't a good picture. Others who lived at the ranch drew great horses. Why?

(see the answer keys)

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