View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Dr. Bose long for?
(a) Familiar faces and ordinary days.
(b) New faces and unexpected behavior.
(c) More immigration.
(d) The unexpected.

2. In Chapter 5, what streams from the newly-opened pillbox "like dazzling diamonds as the brilliant sunlight caught them"?
(a) Oxygen molecules.
(b) Dust particles.
(c) Water vapor droplets.
(d) Anti-matter particles.

3. Where does Dr. Bose currently reside?
(a) On Mars.
(b) On the moon.
(c) On a space station.
(d) On Earth.

4. What ships can catch up with Rama before it leaves the solar system?
(a) The Calypso, Beagle, and Endeavour.
(b) Only the Endeavour.
(c) The Calypso, Beagle, and Challenger.
(d) Only the Challenger.

5. Which "city" on Rama is assumed to be more like an enormous factory or chemical processing plant?
(a) Tokyo.
(b) New York.
(c) Peking.
(d) Paris.

6. What is the origin of the name of object 31/149?
(a) Hindu mythology.
(b) Norse mythology.
(c) Greek mythology.
(d) Roman mythology.

7. How expensive is time on a big orbiting telescope?
(a) A thousand dollars an hour.
(b) Ten thousand dollars an hour.
(c) Ten thousand dollars per quarter hour.
(d) A thousand dollars a minute.

8. How long is the radio time lag between the Endeavour and Earth?
(a) Ten minutes, and decreasing.
(b) Ten hours, and increasing.
(c) Ten hours, and decreasing.
(d) Ten minutes, and increasing.

9. What does the Commander think about the amount of responsibility he must shoulder on this mission?
(a) He wishes he had less decision-making authority.
(b) He is glad that some of the decisions are made by those on Earth, but also envies navigators of the past.
(c) He is uncertain that it is smart to put all decision-making authority in the hands of one commander.
(d) He enjoys having the lion's share of decision-making authority.

10. How does the book describe the world's population at the end of the 21st century?
(a) The human race is facing extinction from natural disasters.
(b) The human race has spread from pole to pole.
(c) Cities in the northern hemisphere are sparsely populated.
(d) Europe is more densely populated than fifty years earlier.

11. What cities narrowly miss being destroyed in the 20th century?
(a) New York and London.
(b) Moscow and Vladivostok.
(c) Padua and Verona.
(d) Venice and Rome.

12. What does the first images of Rama prove?
(a) The body of Rama is geometrically imperfect.
(b) The color of Rama fluctuates from black to shades of gray to white.
(c) Rama is not a natural object.
(d) Rama is too far away to see clearly.

13. For the object 31/149, what do the numbers represent?
(a) The angular parameters of an object's elliptical orbit.
(b) The year and order of its discovery.
(c) The year and order of its discovery.
(d) The brightness of an object based on the magnitude scale.

14. Who does the Commander depend on to land the Endeavour?
(a) Bill Norton.
(b) Joe Calvert.
(c) James Pak.
(d) Boris Rodrigo.

15. What event do the inhabitants of Earth see as inevitable?
(a) The destruction of the city of Venice by a tsunami, caused by the eruption of Krakatoa.
(b) The overpopulation of Earth.
(c) Continued cosmic bombardment of the Moon, causing additional scarring of the "face."
(d) Catastrophic destruction caused by a meteorite from space landing in an inhabited city.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who goes with the Commander on the first EVA?

2. What possibility causes Dr. Petera to suggest that Rama be evacuated early?

3. What is the first city to be visited by the Commander and the other explorers?

4. According to Chapter 9, Rama's orbit is heading directly to where?

5. In Chapter 12, Norton notices something remarkable as he is exploring. What is it?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 632 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample