Quiz created: 2020-01-09

Vocabulary Quiz 80

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. “The title character of this MORDANT début novel is a hepatologist navigating a divorce.” (190512, The New Yorker, p. 71) Something “mordant” is
colorful 
soporific 
sophomoric 
timely 
brief 
trenchant and sarcastic 
No Answer
2. “The title character of this mordant début novel is a HEPATOLOGIST navigating a divorce.” (190512, The New Yorker, p. 71) Hepatology involves studies of
algae 
butterflies 
birds 
disorders of the circulatory system 
disorders of the liver 
disorders of the eye 
disorders of the urinary tract 
No Answer
3. “A wedding had remained .. an occasion when people could dance without guilt, laugh without hesitation. ut for the bride and groom, who survived [the suicide attack], and the hundreds of their relatives, that RESPITE was snatched.” (190819., NYT via SDUT, p. A-8) The word “respite,” which means “relief,” rhymes with
despite 
glee-light 
cess pit 
mess-pea-day 
No Answer
4. “The Greek terms stand out. In part they function as signifiers of social class within a long-established code of linguistic manners: a sprinkling of classical phrases marks one out as a product of an elite private school … and therefore a proper TOFF.” (190815, New York Review of Books, p. 29) The British expression “toff” refers to
a stylishly dressed person, apparently of the upper classes 
a person with excellent education under stern teachers 
a person with strongly conservative political instincts 
a person who has studied Greek 
an establishment politician 
No Answer
5. “Social media have transformed tourism worldwide. Instead of having fun, some people now flock to remote strawberry farms or Icelandic FJORDS to take photos to impress their friends on Instagram.” (190817, The Economist, p. 30) A “fjord” is
a deep, narrow sea inlet, usually between steep slopes 
a glacier 
any small, traditional settlement above the arctic circle 
a restaurant that serves the meat of puffins and/or whales, animals whose hunting is prohibited by international wildlife conventions to which Iceland is not a consignatory 
an igloo-like shelter or house found in far northern parts of Scandinavia, including Iceland 
No Answer
6. “After the recent massacres in El Paso and in Dayton, White House aides evidently decided that Trump needed to dial back his rhetoric. In a brief speech, he denounced white supremacy, but with the vacant AFFECT of a hostage reading for the camera. Liberated from this chore, he soon regained his usual temper … .” (190819, The New Yorker, p. 14) The word “affect” (with the stress on the first syllable) refers to
facial expressions 
thoughtfulness 
hand gestures made while speaking 
emotion 
the persuasiveness of a reasoned argument 
No Answer
7. “Protecting students from unwelcome ideas is like refusing to vaccinate them against measles. When they go out into the world, they will be unprepared for its glorious but sometimes challenging diversity. The notion that people have a right not to be offended is also PERNICIOUS. Offence is subjective. When states try to police it, they encourage people totake offence, aggravating social divisions.” (190817, The Economist, p. 11) Something “pernicious”
was once a good idea but has become distorted 
is desirable (the opposite of malicious) 
is destructive 
is contagious 
cannot be easily identified or defined 
No Answer
8. “… he decided to ask Queen Elizabeth II to PROROGUE Parliament.” (190829, Washington Post via SDUT) If the queen granted his request, Parliament would be
reprimanded 
forced into a new election 
required to take all votes by secret ballot 
prevented from meeting for a time 
abolished 
asked to select a different person to chair its sessions 
No Answer
9. “… [Hong Kong’s] political culture … includes a respect for individual rights and accountable government wholly alien to the bossy, collectivist, CRONEYISH autocrats in Beijing.” (190831, The Economist, p. 32) A political or administrative system that is “croneyish” is
laughable 
willing to sacrifice long-term benefit for immediate advantage 
focused on the long term without much regard for present costs 
showing favoritism to friends in official appointments or benefits 
overly concerned with patriotism and loyalty 
No Answer

      Points out of 9:


Awesomeness
Score
Awesomeness Score: The following awesomeness score is a measure of how much guessing you did to get all items right. It is 100 if you got all questions right when you clicked the process button for the first time. It gets proportionately lower if it took more clicks, until it hits 0 if your clicks exceeded the number of questions.



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This consummately cool, pedagogically compelling, self-correcting,
multiple-choice quiz was produced automatically from
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of March 24, 2015.