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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does the principle of indeterminacy invalidate?
(a) that light travels in a circle
(b) that the moon causes the tides
(c) the notion of cause and effect
(d) that hummingbirds can sit still

2. In Chapter 14, Dillard quotes a fifth century Egyptian mystic as saying what?
(a) meditate outside and you will know the outside
(b) go and sit in your cell, and your cell will teach you everything
(c) fall is the splash of color before the white of winter
(d) winter gives rest, as spring energy

3. What does the author think the existence of parasites makes the world?
(a) unstable
(b) more real
(c) nothing, parasites don't affect the world
(d) a horrible place

4. Dillard says if nature is not monstrous, then why does it appear that way to humans?
(a) humans can't see the big picture
(b) nature is logical, though a logic humans can't comprehend
(c) humans see only the bad
(d) it is human's emotional response to nature's illusory horrors

5. What does the author see as somewhat synonymous with the creator, or God?
(a) energy
(b) nature
(c) humans
(d) the sun

6. What does Dillard say is the driving force after reproduction in the animal kingdom?
(a) knowing God
(b) finding food
(c) protecting the young
(d) having a nice place to live

7. What does Dillard believe the flood shows about nature?
(a) nature doesn't like humans
(b) the effusiveness of creation
(c) it's destructive
(d) nature can't be controlled

8. What does Dillard find out about muskrats and humans?
(a) if a muskrat is aware of human's presence, it will not appear
(b) they eat the same foods
(c) they both like water
(d) they're both nocturnal

9. How would Dillard like to see death?
(a) as another journey
(b) as benign
(c) as a mean part of creation
(d) as something to embrace

10. Dillard suggests that the physical world is "all touch and go." What does she mean by this?
(a) death is easy
(b) time doesn't wait for anyone
(c) life is uncertain
(d) things happen really fast

11. After the butterflies finally leave, how does the sky seem to the author?
(a) like normal
(b) empty
(c) barren of color
(d) big and never ending

12. What lures birds of all species out of their summer hiding places?
(a) a cloudy day
(b) a wet rain
(c) a cold snap
(d) seeds sprinkled on the ground

13. What does Dillard see as the difference between a parasite and a predator?
(a) at least one has a fighting chance when up against a predator
(b) it's easier to pick out the predator
(c) nothing they're both bad
(d) the predator is more honest

14. In Chapter 13, Dillard spies a snake. What kind is it?
(a) a copperhead
(b) a black snake
(c) a coral snake
(d) a brown water snake

15. What is necessary in order for the the gooseneck barnacle to reproduce?
(a) it must find a wrecked ship not more than one-half mile down
(b) it must find water of an exact salinity
(c) it must find a certain type of seaweed to cling to
(d) it must find any piece of debris to cling to in the middle of the ocean

Short Answer Questions

1. In Chapter 13, Dillard quotes Van Gogh. What did she quote?

2. What is the "Principle of Indeterminacy?"

3. What does Dillard say about the muskrat fur?

4. Silvery eels swim to the sea after eight years of maturing in obscure creeks and rivers. What happens to them at the sea?

5. In Chapter 10, what does Dillard see as making life easier?

(see the answer keys)

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