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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. What becomes more numerous when the bird population goes down?

2. In the modern world, life does not have the luxury of ________.

3. Attempts to control a particular ________ in Clear Lake, California resulted in massive bird death.

4. What is the name for chemicals that mix with other pollutants and substances in the water, producing unidentifiable results?

5. Much of the world's water is polluted by ________ from many sources.

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is the eradication of the sagebrush not going to be an effective move for humans?

2. What puzzles the doctors during the mysterious blight in this area?

3. What are some of the diseases that insects can carry which are harmful to humans?

4. What is an unexpected result of the deaths of many birds within an area?

5. Where does people's chemical exposure mainly come from, according to Carson?

6. What has happened with synthetic pesticides within less than twenty years of their existence?

7. What are some of the ways humans have done great damage to other life forms, according to Carson?

8. How is the development of chemical resistance within the insect population a strong example of natural selection?

9. What happens when the fat stores of the fish are being drawn upon for energy?

10. What human function is adversely affected by exposure to chemicals and to radiation, disrupting the universal currency of energy?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The world that Carson describes in the beginning of "Silent Spring" is one that provokes several reactions from readers.

Part 1: Describe the first world that Carson envisions in the first chapter of the book.

Part 2: How does the world change as the description continues on?

Part 3: Why does Carson use this description in the beginning of the book?

Essay Topic 2

Carson attempts to explain that humanity's ever growing need to control the world is actually what is damaging it the most.

Part 1: What are some ways in which humanity attempts to control the natural world?

Part 2: What are the aftereffects of these methods of control?

Part 3: How can controls be altered so that they are not harmful in their applications?

Essay Topic 3

Pests are some of the main targets of chemicals in the world. Humans try to kill pests every chance they get, in a variety of different ways and for numerous reasons.

Part 1: What are some of the pests humans try to rid the world of?

Part 2: What happens when a pest is eradicated from an area?

Part 3: What happens to the soil that is in the area where the pests have been eradicated?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 655 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample