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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who was the originator of the theory of continental drift?
(a) Stanislaw Lem.
(b) Gustave Flaubert.
(c) Thomas Burnet.
(d) Alfred Wegener.

2. What prominent historian stated that probability is a "manner of conceiving the world constituted without our being aware of it" (16)?
(a) Franco Moretti.
(b) Ian Hacking.
(c) Dipesh Chakrabarty.
(d) Stanislaw Lem.

3. What was the first year that the Arabian Sea was known to have generated more storms than the Bay of Bengal?
(a) 2015.
(b) 2001.
(c) 2019.
(d) 2011.

4. What neighborhoods of Long Island does the author describe looking out of on a flight into J.F.K. and thinking they were sure to be swamped in a storm surge in Part 1, Section 9?
(a) Hicksville and North Fork.
(b) Astoria and Williamsburg.
(c) Bellerose Terrace and Long Island City.
(d) Far Rockaway and Long Beach.

5. When was Mumbai's earliest recorded encounter with a powerful storm?
(a) May 15, 1618.
(b) June 12, 1593.
(c) September 2, 1659.
(d) May 4, 1599.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who wrote Sacred Theory of the Earth (1690)?

2. What was the author doing as a part-time job while earning his MA at Delhi University?

3. According to the author in Part 1, Section 10, how many passengers does Mumbai's suburban railway network transport on weekdays?

4. When did the author write the note: "I do believe it to be true that the land here is demonstrably alive; that it does not exist solely, or even incidentally, as a stage for the enactment of human history; that it is [itself] a protagonist" (6)?

5. When did the site of today's Mumbai first come under European rule when it was ceded to the Portuguese by the ruler of Gujarat?

Short Essay Questions

1. What do beachfront locations symbolize, according to the author?

2. What are "fillers" and how do they apply to contemporary literature?

3. How does Mumbai's infrastructure make it vulnerable to cyclones?

4. What is the central metaphor made by the author in Part I, Section 1?

5. Describe the book Storm Surge. Who is its author and what is its premise?

6. Where are the Andaman and Nicobar Islands located and why did the author go there?

7. To what does the author attribute mankind's tendency toward living near bodies of water?

8. Where are the author's ancestors from? What led to their relocation?

9. What did the author discover about the 1882 Mumbai cyclone?

10. Describe the fallout from Hurricane Sandy. When did it develop?

(see the answer keys)

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