Questions are derived from the op-ed pages of Jan. 27, 2000. Be sure not to click on links till after you answer all of them:
1. Which of these passages was written by Edmund Morris, and which was written by George Will?
A. “In popular imagination, this has always been a white city: block after block of pale marble buildings that glow even whiter at night, when the floodlights come into play. Under snow, its classical shapes–domes and pediments, octagons and pyramids–are linked in a geometry that remains generally pure, thanks to the speed with which government shuts down at the first sight of falling flakes.”B. “The poet Swinburne insisted that even the weariest river winds somewhere safe to sea. The same cannot be said of today’s presidential candidacies. All but two of which will soon end, in an atmosphere out of Poe.”
2. What adjective does Albert R. Hunt use to describe Mike Murphy, John McCain’s media adviser?
A. “energetic”
B. “shrewd”
C. “irrepressible”
D. “seasoned”
E. “smart”
3. Richard Stearns, “president of the U.S. Offices of World Vision, an International Christian Humanitarian Organization,” has an op-ed in today’s Los Angeles Timespegged to what event:
A. The State of the Union address
B. The World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland
C. The U.N. Security Council’s choice of Hans Blix as Iraqi weapons inspector
D. The announcement of Academy Award nominees
E. A planned anti-Milosevic rally in Tarzana
4. Fill in the blank from Ellen Goodman:
“If all we do is save a species for display, then the panda bear will become nothing but _________ from an extinct world. But, says Lindburg, ‘if you protect the panda, you’re protecting the golden monkey, the monal pheasants, the takins.’ An entire environment.”
A. “a cuddly memory”
B. “an adorable artifact”
C. “a precious puffball”
D. “a child’s stuffed animal based on memories”
E. “a zoo-confined rarity”
5. What is the only thing that could bring back the oil shocks of the 1970s, according to Steve Chapman?
A. “an outbreak of insanity in Washington”
B. “the death of reason in Washington”
C. “revitalization of that sleeping monster, the Energy Department”
D. “an unhealthy obsession with oil industry profits”
E. “revival of the Clinton-Gore BTU tax proposal”
Answers are printed below. If you scored all five correctly, call Creators Syndicate Inc.; you’ve probably found your calling. If you scored four correctly, you may appear on Charlie Rose. If you scored three correctly, you may appear on the New York Times letters page seven times a year. If you scored two correctly, you may deliver a paper at next year’s American Political Science Association convention. If you scored one correctly, you may post a message on Chatterbox’s “Fray” page. If you scored none correctly, you may phone in a question to C-SPAN’s early-morning call-in show.
Answers:
1. A is Morris and B is Will
2. C
3. B
4. B
5. A
