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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. Repeated spraying lead to poisoned environments in which not only are resident creatures killed, but also those that _________ there.

2. Life is able to adapt to environmental change over _____________, according to Carson.

3. What is contaminated with DDT so that it ends up affecting a human consumer of eggs?

4. What did the earthworms dine on that infected them with DDT?

5. How long can chemicals remain in the soil to which they are applied?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. What does Carson say the major public health problems used to be caused by?

4. Where does radiation tend to occur naturally, as it has for many years before the time of the humans?

5. What were the results of the gypsy moth spraying in 1956?

6. What happened in Clear Lake, California in the 1940s and 1950s?

7. According to Carson, what does a chemically weakened environment open the door to?

8. What happens when plants grow within the chemically-laced soil?

9. What is happening to insects, even though there have been mass applications of chemicals to get rid of them?

10. What are some examples of products from a person's everyday life that can contain harmful chemicals?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Animals are just as affected by the use of insecticides and pesticides as the pests themselves.

Part 1: What are some of the ways in which animals are affected by the chemical use?

Part 2: How are the animals exposed to the chemicals in the first place?

Part 3: What might be the long term affects of the harm of animals in the world?

Essay Topic 2

Nature, despite all the humans do to it, still seems to put up a fight when it comes to the damage humans cause.

Part 1: In what ways does Nature fight back against pollution?

Part 2: Why don't we just let Nature take care of itself instead of taking control of the pollution situation?

Part 3: What are the two critical facts that humans overlook when it comes to nature?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 665 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample