Reagan's Challenger Address Quiz

What is the effect of President Reagan mentioning that he had intended to speak on the State of the Union, but changed his plans after the day's events?

• to emphasize the historic nature of the tragedy that occurred

• to make it clear that he just came up with these remarks on the spot

• to vent his frustration at the change of plans

• to tie in the Challenger explosion with the rest of his planned remarks for the State of the Union

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What is most closely the meaning of horizons in the below quote?

"I know it is hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It’s all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It’s all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons. "

• career options

• experimental space weapons

• lines in which the sky and the earth’s surface appear to appear to meet

• limits of possibility or knowledge

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Which of the following best summarizes Reagan’s remarks to “the schoolchildren of America” in Paragraph 4?

• He wants to assure that children will remain interested in NASA and help America one day win the Space Race.

• He worries how children will be affected since one of the Challenger crew was a teacher.

• He knows that children care the most about space.

• Most presidential addresses take a moment to speak directly to kids.

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What is most closely the meaning of the phrase “slipped the surly bonds of earth” as it is used in the final sentence of the text?

• The shuttle broke through gravity as the astronauts lost their lives.

• Reagan is acknowledging that we all will one day die.

• The shuttle struggled to complete its liftoff.

• Most of the astronauts on the shuttle had significant personal issues.

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What is most closely a central idea of Reagan’s address?

• Losing the Challenger was an effect of taking the space program for granted.

• The nation cannot let grief hold itself back from carrying on with people’s regular routines.

• An event as tragic as this makes one call into question whether to continue on with these explorations.

• People brave enough to explore new territory face great risks.

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Which of these inferences is best supported by the text?

• It is unlikely that schools will watch a space shuttle’s takeoff live ever again.

• Reagan is honoring the astronauts on behalf of the nation, but has not experienced any grief personally.

• Making events like the Challenger liftoff so public demonstrates national pride and is symbolic of American democracy.

• The crew of the Challenger had a foreboding feeling that something terrible was about to happen.

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What quote demonstrates that the space program is symbolic of national pride and American democracy?

• “We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and “slipped the surly bonds of earth” to ‘touch the face of God.’”

• “We do it all up front and in public. That’s the way freedom is, and we wouldn’t change it for a minute.”

• “The future doesn’t belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave.”

• “Nancy and I are pained to the core by the tragedy of the shuttle Challenger.”

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Match each excerpt from the address with the additional significance that went along with it.

• Comparing the astronauts to the European

• “Ladies and gentlemen, I’d planned to speak to you tonight to report on the state of the Union, but the events of earlier today have led me to change those plans.”

• Quoting a poem as an elegy to the astron

• “...as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and ‘slipped the surly bonds of earth’ to ‘touch the face of God.’”

• Calling out the USSR and their way of go

• “Their dedication was, like Drake’s, complete.”

• Canceling a major national address

• “We don’t hide our space program. We don’t keep secrets and cover things up. We do it all up front and in public.”

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Match the following vocab words to their closest definition.

• competence

• chance happening

• anguish

• professionalism

• coincidence

• dignity

• grace

• suffering

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