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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What word from Chapter 4 means incapable of producing any useful result, or pointless?
(a) Methodical.
(b) Precise.
(c) Futile.
(d) Intrinsic.

2. What person who had been sent to cleaning is described in Chapter 4 as having “been belligerent and hostile right up to the end”?
(a) Jack Brent.
(b) Donna Parkins.
(c) Mayor Jahns.
(d) Conner.

3. What word in Chapter 6 describes an electric horn or a similar loud warning device?
(a) Precision.
(b) Juggernaut.
(c) Klaxon.
(d) Polymer.

4. When the airlock doors open and Holston steps out of them in Chapter 6, he finds himself located at the bottom of what?
(a) A concrete ramp leading up.
(b) A spiral staircase leading up.
(c) A well in rural New England.
(d) A staircase that leads endlessly downward.

5. As Holston considers the reasoning behind the difference in how the world actually looks and how it is portrayed inside the silo in Chapter 6, he wonders, “Could someone have decided that the truth was worse than” what?
(a) “Another revolt of the people?”
(b) “The lives of the children?”
(c) “The meaning of existence?”
(d) “A loss of power, of control?”

6. How are the curtains described in Chapter 6 that cover the interior of the airlock?
(a) “Pristine floral curtains.”
(b) “Heavy, dark draperies.”
(c) “Sacrificial plastic curtains.”
(d) “Black, sooty curtains.”

7. The word “gyre” used in Chapter 5 refers to what kind of shape?
(a) A spiral.
(b) A cube.
(c) A sphere.
(d) A hexagon.

8. What is said to cause the metal groan that Holston hears as he prepares to exit for cleaning in Chapter 6?
(a) The computer system crashing.
(b) Robots outside the room.
(c) Pistons in the walls.
(d) The cyborg children.

9. After Allison finished her cleaning, Holston recalls her walking toward what before collapsing?
(a) A crumbling city over the horizon.
(b) A spaceship terminal.
(c) An empty school bus on the hill.
(d) The windows of the silo.

10. What part of Holston’s mind is described in Chapter 4 as being not “made for this, to be calmly ushered to a death it was perfectly aware of”?
(a) “The rational part of his mind.”
(b) “The animal part of his mind.”
(c) “The vulnerable part of his mind.”
(d) “The analytical part of his mind.”

11. How many flights of stairs has Holston just bolted up in the beginning of Chapter 5?
(a) 3.
(b) 4.
(c) 6.
(d) 10.

12. Allison tells Holston that once she is released for the cleaning the next day, she will return for what, in Chapter 5?
(a) For Holston.
(b) For the revolution.
(c) For their children.
(d) For the spaceship.

13. Upon observing his wife’s state in Chapter 5, Holston considers, “There was nothing left for it but to lock her up, even as he wanted nothing else but room enough to” do what?
(a) “Think things through.”
(b) “Beat the walls.”
(c) “Weep.”
(d) “Scream.”

14. What does Allison whisper from the darkened corner of her cell after hours of complete silence in Chapter 5?
(a) “I need out.”
(b) “I love you.”
(c) “I forgot.”
(d) “It’s not real.”

15. Allison tells Holston in Chapter 5, “There could be people outside… They could be” doing what?
(a) “Preparing to attack.”
(b) “Waiting for me.”
(c) “Planning to kill us.”
(d) “Watching us.”

Short Answer Questions

1. When Allison didn’t return after her cleaning, Holston began to consider doing what, according to the narrator in the beginning of Chapter 6?

2. Whom does Holston believe is watching him from the cafeteria and/or lounge as he performs the cleaning in Chapter 6?

3. What does Holston recall Allison clutching as she collapsed after her cleaning in Chapter 4?

4. Where does Holston arrive in a sprint in the opening of Chapter 5?

5. What word from Chapter 4 refers to someone who has been found guilty of a criminal act or wrong?

(see the answer keys)

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