Quiz created: 090405

Vocabulary Quiz 9

Instructions: Answer the multiple choice questions, guessing if necessary; then click on the "Process Questions" button at the end of the quiz to see your score in the adjacent message box. The program will not reveal which questions you got wrong, only how many points you have. Go back and change your answers until you get them all right. (The message box will rejoice at that point and the page will change color to show it is tickled pink.)

Points to note: (1) Questions with only one possible answer are one point each. (2) Questions with one or more possible answers (represented by check boxes) give a point for each correct answer, but also subtract a point for each wrong answer! (3) The program will not attempt to score your efforts at all if you have not tried at least half of the questions. (4) This quiz is for your own use only. No record of your progress is kept or reported to anyone.

1. "But there have been other indicators of a gentle slide from robustness towards humility. Last autumn Britain softened its view on the European Union's approach to Russia. It also revised its policy on Tibet, explicitly recognising China's sovereignty over the territory, in place of the arcane concept of "suzerainty". The Chinese were delighted. This is evidently regarded as a time for Britain to ingratiate itself with big, tricky countries, rather than to IRK them." (The Economist 090124:63) "Irk" is a synonym for
attack  indebt  castigate  defraud  annoy  No Answer
2. "The poet's (Robert Burns's] SOPPY romanticism, flinty egalitarianism, and ridicule of pomposity have universal appeal." (The Economist 090124:61) Something which is "soppy" is
maudlin  out of date  childish  effeminate  damp  No Answer
3. "Science will also be arguing with itself [in 2009], as it always does. Expect RUCTIONS in the field of climate change as people seek to reconcile the smooth curves of computer models with the messy reality of the atmosphere, and thus explain why things have not been heating up recently in the way the models suggest they should have. (The Economist"The World in 2009," December, 2008, p. 26) A "ruction" is
a noisy quarrel 
an international meeting 
a local-level meeting called to discuss a public issue 
a white paper 
a short-lived best selling book 
a change of direction 
a loud belch 
No Answer
4. Mr. Bush's "lacklustre attorney-general Alberto Gonzales, who was forced to resign in disgrace, was only the most visibleof an rmy of over-promoted, ideologically vetted HOMUNCULI." (The Economist, 090117: 28) A "homunculus" is a person
at the center of the action 
who is generally clueless 
who is excessively deferential to authority 
who is very small, even thumb-sized 
who looks like an ape 
No Answer
5. "But as for now, Mr Bin Laden has tried to exploit the news, rather than to make it. So it was with his last PHILIPPIC, an audio recording issued on January 14th, in which he claimed that his jihad against America since 2001 had been responsible for bringintg about the superpower's economic collapse." (The Economist 090124:64) Mr. Bin Laden's "philippic" was
a letter to Prince Phillip 
a radio broadcast (originally on a Phillips radio) 
a tryade 
a secret communiqué to his followers 
a press release or white paper 
No Answer
6. "The heart of the Treasury's package was an 'asset-protection scheme', a euphemism for dealing with DODGY loans and assets that continue to hinder a return to banking health." (The Economist 090124:60) Someone or something that is "dodgy" is
fast moving 
likely to change shape 
unreliable or evasive 
somnolescent 
illegal 
poisonous 
No Answer
7. "Mr. Obama and his secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, have declared that securing two states, of Israel and Palestine, must be the sole basis of a deal. America cannot give unstinting support to an Israeli government that says it is RESILING from the fundamental principle of two states and will continue to colonise the West Bank." (The Economist 090404:21) To resile is
to retreat quickly, like a defeated army 
to be overcome with disgust 
to be overcome with fear 
to retreat to a previous state, like a spring recoiling 
to rewrite a policy or regulation in a way not formerly anticipated 
No Answer
8. "Iran also helped to set up Sudan's FLEDGLING arms industry, now the third-largest in Africa." (The Economist 090404:50) Sudan's arms industry is
new and inexperienced 
illegal 
frightening 
purchased from outside 
No Answer

      Points out of 8:

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This consummately cool, pedagogically compelling, self-correcting,
multiple-choice quiz was produced automatically from
a simple text file of questions using D.K. Jordan's
dubiously original, but publicly accessible
Think Again Quiz Maker
of October 6, 2008.