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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why is the young boy yelling in the middle of town on the Friday evening after the cylinder crashes?
(a) He is trying to cause trouble.
(b) He is selling newspapers.
(c) He is alarmed about the Martians.
(d) He is just trying to get attention.

2. What does the narrator see in the sky as he goes to town on his way back from the inn?
(a) A third cylinder falling.
(b) A lunar eclipse.
(c) A military missile.
(d) A rocket.

3. How does the Lieutenant respond to the soldier and narrator's story when meeting them?
(a) He does not believe them.
(b) He accuses them of being insane.
(c) He says that he saw the same things they did.
(d) He says that he will protect them.

4. What happens to the narrator as he runs home after the heat ray?
(a) He gets into a fight.
(b) He passes out.
(c) He steals a horse.
(d) He runs into his wife.

5. What do the soldier and the narrator bring with them when they decide to leave Woking?
(a) Weapons and food.
(b) Food and whiskey.
(c) Food and water.
(d) Food and the narrator's dog.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is a Deputation?

2. About how many people does the heat ray kill?

3. In the days immediately following the first heat ray, the only people that know about it live in what town?

4. How many gas jets are spotted within the first twenty-four hours of the story?

5. How many nights in a row are the gas jets spotted before they stop?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the "Committee of Public Safety" do to the narrator's brother, and what does this reveal about human nature?

2. Who does the narrator find on Putney Hill, and what do they discuss?

3. Why do scientists think that Mars cannot support life?

4. Describe what the Martians look like.

5. Why might the narrator have included the story about his brother?

6. What happens to the man who rents out the horse and cart to the narrator? What message is this event supposed to send to the reader?

7. As the curate and narrator fight for position at the opening in the ruined house, what do they see, and how does the narrator react?

8. How far does news of the heat-ray spread after the first attack? What does this indicate?

9. Why does the narrator hit the curate with the meat chopper?

10. When the narrator returns to town after the first heat-ray, how do people react to the news he brings?

(see the answer keys)

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