Feathered Friend Assessment

Answer the following questions about the story "Feathered Friend" by Arthur C. Clarke.

Question 1

Multiple choice

In the opinion of the narrator in "Feathered Friend", why is Claribel a "sensible" choice as a pet for Sven?

  • She weighs very little.

  • She sings beautifully.

  • She is good company for Sven.

  • She gets a bit noisy when she is upset.

Question 2

Multiple choice

In "Feathered Friend", when does the narrator first realize that Claribel is aboard the space station?

  • when Sven runs in with a tiny bundle of feathers

  • when Sven informs the whole crew

  • when a flash of yellow flies past

  • when he hears the bird singing

Question 3

Multiple choice

What happens after the crew revives Claribel in "Feathered Friend"?

  • The crew waits in hushed silence.

  • She flies around the space station.

  • She chirps but keels over again.

  • The crew goes back to eating breakfast.

Question 4

Multiple choice

In "Feathered Friend", why do crew members pass around an oxygen bottle?

  • to celebrate Claribel's recovery

  • to keep themselves from losing consciousness

  • to determine how much oxygen each person needs

  • to remind each of other of their loyalty and friendship

Question 5

Multiple choice

As the narrator awakens on the morning described in "Feather Friend", he has a headache. What is the most likely reason for the headache?

  • a night of bad dreams

  • confusion between day and night

  • lack of oxygen in the space station

  • illness spread by close contact with birds

Question 6

Multiple choice

Why would a person most likely feel distressed after reading an email? Base your answer on the meaning of distressed.

  • if the message contains bad news

  • is the message is from an old friend

  • if the message responds to an old request

  • if the message is a meeting reminder

Question 7

Multiple choice

If a puppy is described as whimpering pathetically, which of the following is most likely true? Base your answer on the meaning of pathetically.

  • The sound is quiet and mostly unnoticed.

  • The noise causes people to feel pity or sorrow.

  • The puppy seems energetic and eager to please.

  • Other dogs around it are howling or whimpering, too.

Question 8

Multiple choice

If a group of people lamented in public, which of the following events was most likely taking place? Base your answer on the meaning of the word lamented.

  • a concert

  • a funeral

  • a graduation

  • a holiday party

Group 9

The following question has two parts. Answer Part A first, and then Part B. You must answer Part A correctly to get credit for Part B on the rubric.

Question 9a

Multiple choice

Think about the setting of "Feathered Friend". What is the most likely reason that "early spacers" were "wiry little fellow(s)"?

  • Small people have a special love for adventure.

  • Construction is a job for small but muscular people.

  • Large people have difficulties adjusting to zero gravity.

  • Both space and supplies on the space station are limited.

Question 9b

Multiple choice

Which quotation from "Feathered Friend" best supports the answer to Part A

  • "(T)here's never been a regulation that forbids one to keep pets in a space station."

  • "(A) space suit is not the most convenient of garbs in which to work."

  • "I was sitting int he little cubbyhole laughingly called my office..."

  • "A space station has more hiding places than you can count..."

Question 10

Multiple choice

When the narrator of "Feathered Friend" says, "Half a million dollars worth of chemical and electronic engineering had let us down completely," what does he most likely mean?

  • Engineering is never an exact science.

  • No one should trust his or her life to scientists.

  • Despite costly technology, systems still do fail.

  • The entire space program is expensive but flawed.

Question 11

Multiple choice

In "Feathered Friend", why is Claribel said to be like a hummingbird?

  • She is able to hover in midair.

  • She has shiny, reflective feathers.

  • She drinks from the plants in the spacecraft.

  • She moves her wings in a back-and-forth motion.

Group 12

The following question has two parts. Answer Part A first, and then Part B. You must answer Part A correctly to get credit for Part B on the rubric.

Question 12a

Multiple choice

In "Feathered Friend", how do the crew members feel about Claribel?

  • They ignore her as much as possible.

  • They tolerate her, but she annoys them.

  • They care about her as though she were their own.

  • They are angry with Sven for smuggling her aboard.

Question 12b

Multiple choice

Which of these lines from "Feathered Friend" best supports the answer to Part A?

  • "(B)y that time it no longer mattered, because Claribel was a general pet."

  • "(T)he only problem was that Claribel got rather noisy when she was upset..."

  • "(W)ho would dream of looking for a canary in a space station?"

  • "Without Claribel, we should soon have been slightly dead."

Question 13

Multiple choice

How does the title of "Feathered Friend" hint at one theme of the story?

  • It suggests that Claribel's existence is important to the crew.

  • It points out one key difference between birds and humans.

  • It reminds the reader of the delicate nature of animals.

  • It compares bird flight to human flight.

Question 14

Multiple choice

How does this excerpt from "Feathered Friend" connect most clearly to one of the themes of the story?

"It was one of those accidents that couldn't possibly happen; we'd had one of our rare eclipses by Earth's shadow that night: Part of the air purifier had frozen up, and the single alarm in the circuit had failed to go off."

  • It refers to an unexpected natural event.

  • It shows the excitement of manned space travel.

  • It explores the narrator's concerns about bad air.

  • It reveals that technology is not always dependable.

Group 15

The following question has two parts. Answer Part A first, and then Part B. You must answer Part A correctly to get credit for Part B on the rubric.

Question 15a

Multiple choice

Which of the following statements best expresses one of the themes of "Feathered Friend"?

  • Humans are meant to explore and discover new worlds.

  • Sometimes the oldest, simplest solution is the most valuable.

  • One should always choose teamwork over personal ambition.

  • A bird does not change its feathers because the weather is bad.

Question 15b

Multiple choice

Which of these sentences from "Feathered Friend" best supports the answer to Part A?

  • "To the best of my knowledge, there's never been a regulation that forbids one to keep pets in a space station."

  • "I'm not a psychologist, but I must admit that his selection was very sensible."

  • "It was quite obvious that she'd already learned how to operate in the absence of gravity, and did not believe in doing unnecessary work."

  • "I've just remembered that miners used to carry canaries down to warn them of gas."

Question 16

Multiple choice

Which of the following is one of the meanings of the Greek root -path-?

  • feeling

  • health

  • sight

  • time

Question 17

Multiple choice

The word antipathy contains the Greek root -path- and the Greek prefix anti- meaning "against". Which of the following sentence most clearly shows the meaning of antipathy? Base your knowledge of the Greek root -path-.

  • Jordan, the newest member of our team, made the winning goal.

  • Diego's family plans to take a trip to Venezuela this summer.

  • Hannah and her sister hate finding litter on the beach.

  • Can you finish by yourself, or do you need help?

Question 18

Multiple choice

Which example from this sentence is a compound word in open form?

The captain point out the life jackets and the rowboats - two important and useful safety features of the all-expenses-paid midnight cruise.

  • life jackets

  • rowboats

  • important and useful

  • all-expenses-paid

Question 19

Multiple choice

In which of these sentences is a compound word used as an adjective?

  • The story featured the adventures of a chemical engineer.

  • Throughout the story, the narrator was never named.

  • Early one, the author foreshadowed some key events.

  • It was a lighthearted story with an interesting moral.

Question 20

Multiple choice

Which part of speech is the compound word in the following sentence?

When the paper company downsized, Mr. Porter lost his accounting job.

  • adjective

  • adverb

  • noun

  • verb

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