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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. The majority of the Earth's surface is covered with __________.

2. Chemicals can travel down ___________ or in underground aquifers to the bodies of water.

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

4. What was infected with chemicals that led to the death of so many robins?

5. Only _________ have gained the ability to reserve the roles and actually change the environment they live in.

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What has the environment played an important role in forming, according to this chapter?

3. What do the mitochondria of cells do within the body?

4. What kinds of trees are in the forests described in this chapter?

5. What are two of the factors which are contributing to the chemical deposits in the earth, water, and living tissues?

6. What happens during the sterilization method of insect control?

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

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

9. What were the results of the spraying of the Japanese beetle in Michigan in 1959?

10. What do more American children die from today than from any other disease, according to the book as it was written in its own time period?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

But the truth is that mass spraying is not the only source of chemical contamination in the world.

Part 1: What are some other causes of chemical contamination in the world?

Part 2: Is most people's chemical exposure little by little or in one large dose? Why?

Part 3: What are some of the everyday sources of chemicals in our lives?

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 617 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample