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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Kolbert moves onto a visit to the Old River Control Auxiliary Structure located how many miles upriver of Baton Rouge?
(a) 8 miles.
(b) 800 miles.
(c) 80 miles.
(d) 18 miles.

2. Why was the Old River Control Auxiliary Structure created?
(a) To attempt to control the Old River.
(b) To redirect the flow of the Atchafalaya.
(c) To attempt to control a tributary of the Mississippi River called the Atchafalaya.
(d) To dam up the water coming from the Mississippi River.

3. What are the main causes of the shrinkage of Isle de Jean Charles?
(a) Flood control measures and oil industry digging.
(b) Multiple hurricanes.
(c) The shore is lacking natural vegetation to keep soil in place.
(d) It is slowly sinking due to rising sea levels.

4. Why do people in Asia not want to buy Asian carp from the U.S.?
(a) They prefer to support their own fisheries.
(b) They prefer fresh fish to frozen.
(c) They do not trust American companies.
(d) They do not realize American rivers have Asian carp.

5. In Down the River Chapter 1, what examples of metaphors does Elizabeth Kolbert give involving rivers?
(a) Rivers are metaphors for pollution, destruction, and decay.
(b) Rivers are metaphors for depth, reflection, and life.
(c) Rivers are metaphors for loneliness.
(d) Rivers are metaphors for all the problems that humans have caused.

6. When Kolbert visits the United States Army Corps of Engineers’ location in Chicago soon after her cruise down the sewage canal, she meets with whom?
(a) The engineer in charge of cleaning the sewage canal.
(b) The engineer in charge of the levees.
(c) The engineer in charge of the electric fish barriers.
(d) The engineer in charge or rerouting the river.

7. What is the scientific name for the Devil’s Hole pupfish?
(a) Cyprinodon diavolo.
(b) Cyprinodon diabolis.
(c) Cyprinodon morte.
(d) Cyprinodon diabolo.

8. In the beginning of Chapter 2, why does Kolbert fly in a small airplane?
(a) To get from Baton Rouge to New Orleans.
(b) To fly from Chicago to New Orleans.
(c) To see the Chicago River from the sky.
(d) To get a bird’s eye view of the Plaquemines.

9. What two drainage basins were linked with the reversal of the Chicago River and the creation of the Sanitary and Ship Canal?
(a) The Great Plains and the Great Lakes.
(b) The Mississippi River and Chicago River.
(c) The Chicago River and Great Lakes.
(d) The Mississippi River and Great Lakes.

10. Why was Manly’s trip west end up so arduous?
(a) Manly and the argonauts arrived too early in the season to take the simplest and most direct route.
(b) Manly and the argonauts refused to use maps and ended up taking a more difficult path.
(c) Manly and the argonauts arrived too late in the season to take the simplest and most direct route.
(d) Manly and the argonauts got lost during a sand storm.

11. What does Kolbert find at LSU’s Center for River Studies?
(a) Photographs of the delta.
(b) A school of Asian carp.
(c) A model of the delta.
(d) Plans for reducing flooding in the delta.

12. What happens if coral is unable to acquire new symbionts after a heatwave?
(a) They grow lonely.
(b) They begin to shrink.
(c) They starve to death.
(d) They turn white.

13. What problem does Joe Harvey mention to Kolbert?
(a) The sinking problem.
(b) The sewage problem.
(c) The flood problem.
(d) The carp problem.

14. What is NOT a reason for why Devil’s Hole is a geological oddity?
(a) The fish were washed here when the whole area had more water and have never been able to leave.
(b) The pupfish have evolved to survive in the harsh conditions of Devils Hole.
(c) The cavern is narrow in some areas and very deep in others, much like a swimming pool.
(d) It holds water left over from the Pleistocene age.

15. What is wrong with the Wood Screw Pumps in the twenty-four pumping stations that pump water out of the city?
(a) They are speeding up the sinking of the city.
(b) They are not effective at keeping out water.
(c) They are difficult to replace.
(d) Many are broken and need to be fixed.

Short Answer Questions

1. With whom does Kolbert ride in a boat far down along the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal?

2. 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?

3. After a week with Gates, how does Kolbert feel?

4. How far away is a fake Devil’s Hole from the real one?

5. When was it determined that the Anthropocene Age began?

(see the answer keys)

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