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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Down the River.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the name of the new era in which Kolbert says we live?
(a) Anthropocene.
(b) Precambrian.
(c) Paleozoic.
(d) Jurassic.

2. In Kolbert’s observations in and near Chicago, Asian carp, when caught, are then processed into what?
(a) Fish patties.
(b) Gefilte fish.
(c) Fertilizer.
(d) Pet food.

3. What is the term for when water bursts through a levee, whether man-made or natural?
(a) A geyser.
(b) A crevasse.
(c) A creole.
(d) A water spout.

4. Prior to the digging of the canal, Chicago’s waste ran into the Chicago River and into Lake Michigan, which led to what regular outbreaks?
(a) Scarlet Fever and Yellow Fever.
(b) Bird Flu and Swine Flu.
(c) Consumption and West Nile Virus.
(d) Typhoid and Cholera.

5. What is NOT something that Kolbert says human domination over nature has caused?
(a) More species diversity and safer drinking water.
(b) Earthquakes.
(c) Large amounts of nitrogen and carbon dioxide.
(d) Dammed and diverted rivers.

Short Answer Questions

1. To what does Kolbert compare being hit by a jumping carp?

2. Why do people in Asia not want to buy Asian carp from the U.S.?

3. How does Kolbert feel about the community of Isle de Jean Charles?

4. After a disastrous flood in what year, did the Army Corps of Engineers extend the levees?

5. Why was electric shock chosen to deter the fish?

(see the answer key)

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