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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 4.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Dawkins compare point mutation to?
(a) A misprint on a book.
(b) A card getting shuffled into the wrong deck.
(c) A stray mark on a photocopy.
(d) A misspoken word.

2. What would molecules that started to manufacture energy using the sun eventually become?
(a) Plants.
(b) Inorganic materials.
(c) Animals.
(d) Single-celled organisms.

3. What does the Watt Governor machine appear to do?
(a) Scream.
(b) Think.
(c) Cry.
(d) Talk.

4. What does Dawkins say points to the idea that all living things come from the same types of early molecules?
(a) All life forms are made from DNA molecules.
(b) All life forms have similar pH balances.
(c) All life forms have basic cell structures.
(d) All life forms are based on carbon.

5. If two genes normally cooperate, what happens when one gene is missing?
(a) The other gene no longer has any effect.
(b) The other gene still has an effect, but the total result is not the same.
(c) The other gene still causes the same total result but intermittently.
(d) The other gene still causes the same total result.

Short Answer Questions

1. According to Dawkins, how might a gene that normally does something selfish end in doing something unselfish?

2. What example of the type of valued human behavior that perhaps influences people to believe in group selection does Dawkins give?

3. In Dawkins' metaphor about DNA, what does the bookshelf represent?

4. In Dawkins' discussion, what does he consider alleles to be, relative to genes?

5. Does the author believe that all people should act selfishly?

(see the answer key)

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