View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Signs that they were approaching the High Plains included all EXCEPT
(a) The earth looked flatter.
(b) The greenness became paler.
(c) Fences became rarer.
(d) The earth took on deep undulations.

2. What subject did Phaedrus teach at the university?
(a) Rhetoric
(b) 'riting
(c) 'rithmetic
(d) Reading

3. Phaedrus corresponded with the Northwest Regional Accrediting Association
(a) because he was unhappy with their method of accrediting the English department.
(b) to get letters proving he was a professor at an accredited university.
(c) because he believed that the university had violated accreditation requirements.
(d) to see of they would accredit a college he was starting.

4. Phaedrus discovered that the science he'd once thought of as the whole world of knowledge is
(a) only a branch of philosophy.
(b) not cared about at all by Koreans.
(c) a natural continuation of the question that started him in science.
(d) theoretic science.

5. Secondary roads are preferred by the Narrator because
(a) he leaves them with a feeling of relaxation and enjoyment.
(b) he enjoys kids waving to him when he rides by.
(c) he is able to get better directions from people on secondary roadsthan those on main roads.
(d) he likes to have people look from their porches and wonder who he is.

Short Answer Questions

1. In chapter 11, the Narrator and Chris seem

2. Philosophy attempts to answer questions like:

3. In trying to explain what is wrong with the outdoor barbecue instructions, the Narrator expounds upon what is wrong with technology, which he says is

4. The building where Phaedrus taught was

5. The Narrator does not want to go faster than

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the Narrator mean by referring to Phaedrus' reading of philosophers as the high country of the world of thought?

2. What is the difference between "What's new?" and "What is best?" What type of answer might you get to each question? Which question would you prefer to ask your friends? Which question would you rather have people ask you?

3. What evidence is there that the Sutherlands and the Narrator disagree about technology?

4. In what ways is Chris a reflection of, or mirror of, his father? How does his father realize this?

5. Why did John and Sylvia get angry with the Narrator?

6. The book has an Afterword (chapter 33). In it the author tells how Chris was brutally murdered at age 22 and that the author now has a young daughter. How has she helped to put his life "back in perspective again"? What is that perspective? (refer to chapters 24 and 25 also)

7. The Narrator talks about the set of boxes which define the components of a motorcycle. If you start at the top with "motorcycle" and work to the next level, you have "components" and "functions;" at the next level "components" are divided into "power assembly" and "running assembly." Where else do we find such hierarchies? Give examples of this pyramidal structure of hierarchical organization charts in business, science, and government. Can you think of others?

8. How did the mechanics who had worked on the Narrator's motorcycle prove that caring about what you are doing is essential to doing it right?

9. How does the Narrator know that Phaedrus existed?

10. The Narrator chose a trip with various types of terrain as the backdrop for this book on philosophy. Every description is in the book for a reason. What does the 11,000 foot mountain summit represent? What do the switchcbacks correspond to the thinking being done at that time? Do the paved roads represent something? If so, what? What does the shining wall across the misty harbor seem to denote?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 2,064 words (approx. 7 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample