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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why does Thoreau reject the suggestion of owning a visitor's book?
(a) He can't afford to buy one.
(b) He doesn't have enough visitors.
(c) He believes it's an unnecessary luxury.
(d) He has a good memory.

2. "I believe that men are generally still a little afraid of..."
(a) The dark.
(b) Their imaginations.
(c) Witches.
(d) The devil.

3. What do Thoreau's guests often do when they leave after dark?
(a) They spend the night at Walden Pond.
(b) They ask Thoreau to walk them home.
(c) They get lost.
(d) They go missing.

4. What happened to Walden Pond between his childhood and the time he moved there?
(a) The spring dried up.
(b) A family of muskrats moved in.
(c) The trees on the shores were cut down.
(d) The fish were depopulated.

5. Of what do the smells from the train remind Thoreau?
(a) The destruction of nature.
(b) Other parts of the world.
(c) His childhood.
(d) Big city life.

6. "The swiftest traveler is he that goes..."
(a) By Horse.
(b) As the crow flies.
(c) By Train.
(d) Afoot.

7. What did Thoreau do early in the morning?
(a) Went for a walk.
(b) Read a book.
(c) Bathed in the pond.
(d) Gathered food from his garden.

8. Who carried the Iliad with him on his expeditions?
(a) Alexander.
(b) Magellan.
(c) Captain James Cook.
(d) Edmund Hillary.

9. Thoreau hates the name of what local pond ?
(a) Fish Pond.
(b) Mill Pond.
(c) Flint's Pond.
(d) White Pond.

10. Some of Thoreau's pleasantest hours are spent during this kind of weather:
(a) Thunderstorms.
(b) Hail.
(c) Sun showers.
(d) Snowstorms.

11. What man-made device can Thoreau hear from his window?
(a) Streetcar.
(b) Railroad cars.
(c) Lumber mill whistle.
(d) Horse-pulled wagon.

12. Thoreau calls the train an "iron..."
(a) Monstrosity.
(b) Horse.
(c) Dragon.
(d) Beast.

13. When did Thoreau begin to live in the woods?
(a) Independence Day, 1845.
(b) Christmas Day, 1846.
(c) Memorial Day, 1847.
(d) Martin Luther King Day, 1845.

14. What plant grows at the edge of the path near the end of May?
(a) Goldenrod.
(b) Sumach.
(c) Johnswort.
(d) The sand cherry.

15. What American institution does Thoreau state he could do without?
(a) The Government.
(b) The Railway.
(c) The Post Office.
(d) The Church.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is Thoreau's shelter at Walden Pond?

2. What does Thoreau hear from town in his bean-field on gala days?

3. In total, how much does it cost for Thoreau to build his house?

4. What does Thoreau think Concord should become?

5. "I go and come with a strange... in Nature."

(see the answer keys)

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