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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Darwin’s ideas regarding evolution were first known as what?
(a) Transfiguration.
(b) Transmutation.
(c) Transgender.
(d) Transliteration.

2. 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 Chicago River and Great Lakes.
(c) The Mississippi River and Great Lakes.
(d) The Mississippi River and Chicago River.

3. When was it determined that the Anthropocene Age began?
(a) The 1930s.
(b) The 1880s.
(c) The 1950s.
(d) The 1980s.

4. 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 the levees.
(b) The engineer in charge of cleaning the sewage canal.
(c) The engineer in charge of the electric fish barriers.
(d) The engineer in charge or rerouting the river.

5. When are the eggs harvested and brought back to Devils Hole Jr.?
(a) At the beginning of mating season.
(b) In the off-season.
(c) At the peak of season.
(d) At the end of mating season.

6. When did William Lewis Manly take a difficult journey west?
(a) 1819.
(b) 1849.
(c) 1889.
(d) 1749.

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

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

9. To what is the land in the southern region of Louisiana compared?
(a) Slime.
(b) Warm Jell-O.
(c) Play-doh.
(d) A river of mud.

10. Kolbert jumps to a day when she meets Alex Kolker, a professor at LSU, who has what as a side gig?
(a) Giving demonstrations to locals of how to protect their homes against flooding in New Orleans.
(b) Giving bike tours around New Orleans.
(c) Giving lectures at local libraries around New Orleans.
(d) Giving walking tours around New Orleans.

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

12. What was the original name of New Orleans, as given by Kolbert in this book?
(a) Bulbancha.
(b) L’Isle de la Nouvelle Orléans.
(c) NOLA.
(d) L'isle de Duc de l'Orléans.

13. Where does Kolbert stay for her last night in Nevada?
(a) The Bellagio.
(b) A Native American reservation.
(c) The Paris.
(d) The Venetian.

14. When do Kolbert and Van Oppen meet?
(a) At a conference for marine biologists.
(b) Almost a year after Gates’ death.
(c) When Kolbert first met Gates.
(d) After a year of bleached coral.

15. 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 loneliness.
(c) Rivers are metaphors for all the problems that humans have caused.
(d) Rivers are metaphors for depth, reflection, and life.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. What book does Kolbert say led to the introduction of Asian carp in U.S. rivers?

3. How much of the Caribbean coral disappeared in the 1980s?

4. To what does Kolbert compare the bringing back of a species from the brink of extinction?

5. What are Van Oppen and her students’ plans for coral?

(see the answer keys)

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