Asimov's "Science & the Sense of Wonder"

The MAIN purpose of Asimov's essay is

• to entertain

• to inform

• to persuade

• to complain

Someone who is "exultant" is likely

• very happy

• upset about a loss

• scientifically gifted

• in the middle of a disaster

What is most likely to cause "awe" in someone?

• a blank wall

• a paperclip

• a new experience in a gorgeous location

• a poorly written poem about tax laws

"Those bright spots in the sky that we call planets are worlds. There are worlds with thick atmospheres of carbon dioxide and sulfuric acid; worlds of red-hot liquid with hurricanes that could gulp down the whole earth; dead worlds with quiet pockmarks of craters; worlds with volcanoes puffing plumes of dust; worlds with pink and desolate deserts..."

Which word is REPEATED to emphasize a point?

• bright

• worlds

• craters

• pink

Humans walking barefoot on the surface of the Sun next year is

• conceivable

• inconceivable

In Walt Whitman's poem, how does the speaker of the poem feel about astronomy and science?

• loves it

• finds it interesting

• dislikes it

• is unaware of it

How does speaker in Whitman's poem respond to the "learn'd astronomer's" lecture?

• walks outside to look at the starry night

• takes careful notes about the facts

• draws diagrams and charts of data

• falls asleep due to boredom

"Should I stare lovingly at a single leaf and willingly remain ignorant of the forest?"

This is an example of which TWO persuasive techniques?

• repetition

• rhetorical question

• analogy

• statistics

"Should I stare lovingly at a single leaf and willingly remain ignorant of the forest?"

Why is this sentence effectively persuasive?

• It makes nature seem beautiful.

• It makes poets seem brilliant.

• It makes looking at only a small part of a much bigger scene seem foolish.

• It makes looking at nature seem like a big waste of time.

"And some stars explode in a vast cataclysm whose ferocious blast of cosmic rays, hurrying outward at nearly the speed of light, reaches across thousands of light years..."

Which TWO phrases are clearest examples of exaggeration/overstatement?

• And some starts

• explode in a vast cataclysm

• ferocious blast of cosmic rays

• reaches across

• of light years