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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. A navigation lock on the bank of the Mississippi River lowers ships down to where?

2. What does Major General Thomas Sands do each year on the Mississippi in late summer or early fall?

3. By 1812, the east bank of the Mississippi River is levied up to which city?

4. What does the 1927 flood in Louisiana teach officials about levees?

5. What is a weir?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are some of the predominant problems in the regions populated near the Atchafalaya and Mississippi rivers?

2. Explain how the Mississippi River forms Louisiana over many centuries.

3. What are some of the main points the author tries to make through this work of historical nonfiction?

4. Name some of the companies and industries that are attracted to the regions in and around Baton Rouge and New Orleans as these communities develop.

5. Throughout the 1700s and 1800s, what did people in southern Louisiana do to protect their communities and land against floods?

6. Describe some of the challenges New Orleans faces because of its geographical location.

7. The Old River Control project began operating in 1963. What happens ten years later?

8. What is James B. Eads' contribution to the Mississippi River?

9. Explain what the author says about Old Cajun bayou life in the Atchafalaya region after the Corps took control.

10. Describe what McPhee writes about Morgan City, Louisiana.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare and contrast Louisiana's bayou life before and after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers develops the system of locks, gates, spillways, and structures to control the region's rivers.

Essay Topic 2

Using key characters from "Atchafalaya," show how groups of people (such as environmentalists, government officials, engineers, and residents) are in conflict with each other and with themselves in their attempts to deal with the challenging geography of the region.

Essay Topic 3

John McPhee shows how man works hard to control nature in an attempt to protect communities and economic centers.

1. Using one of the three main stories covered in "The Control of Nature," show how man is in conflict with nature.

2. Do people's efforts to redirect or tame natural forces solve problems or make them worse? Explain.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 927 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample