Self Check Quiz
Standard
FCAT MA.B.2.4.1
Practice Test
1.
Conquest of Mount Everest
James Morris
On May 29, 1953, New Zealand climber Edmund Hillary and his Sherpa [Tibetan] companion, Tenzing Norgay, finally reached the summit of Mount Everest, the world's highest mountain. Their feat, together with the experience of being high up on the slopes of Everest, is described here by a member of the expedition, James Morris. The Colonel Hunt referred to in the account is the leader of the expedition, Sir John Hunt.
The masters of Everest, Hillary and Tensing, returned to this camp (22,000 ft) from the South Col [Passage] yesterday afternoon in a blaze of sunshine and triumphant emotion, bringing their news with them.
It was a significantly beautiful day among the snows of the upper Western Cwm [Valley]. All was crisp and sparkling, with the awful block of Nuptse only faintly shining with the curious greasy sheen of the melting surface snow. From the ridge of Lhotse a spiral of snow powder was driven upwards by the wind like a genie from a bottle. From down the Cwm came from time to time a sudden thrilling high-pitched whistle as a boulder screamed down from the heights. Everest itself, its rock ridge graceless against a blue sky, was as hard and [mysterious] as ever.
It was a day for great news. Here in the camp on the north side of the Cwm there was already yesterday morning a tension, nerve-racking and yet deliciously exciting. At 9 A.M. on the previous day, 29 May, the two summit climbers had been seen by their support group, Gregory, Lowe, and a Sherpa, already crossing the South Summit at about 28,500 feet, and going strongly up the final ridge.
The weather had been perfect, the gales of the preceding days which had so ravaged Camp VII on the South Col had died down. Hillary and Tensing were known to be two of the most powerful climbers in the world, and were using the well-tested open-circuit oxygen equipment. Reports brought down from the South Summit by Bourdillon and Evans, who had reached it on 26 May in the expedition's first assault, seemed to show that the unknown final ridge was not impassable, though undoubtedly difficult….
There was a sudden rush up the snow slope in the sunshine to meet the assault party. Hillary, looking extraordinarily fresh, raised his ice axe in greeting. Tensing slipped sideways in the snow and smiled, and in a trice [short time] they were surrounded. Hands were wrung ecstatically, photographs taken, there was the whirr of the ciné [movie] camera, and laughter interrupted congratulations.
Hillary and Tensing, by now old climbing colleagues, posed with arms interlocked, Hillary's face aglow but controlled, Tensing's split with a brilliant smile of pleasure. As the group moved down the hill into the camp a band of Sherpas came diffidently forward to pay tribute to the greatest climber of them all. Like a modest monarch, Tensing received their greeting. Some bent their bodies forward, their hands clasped as in prayer. Some shook hands lightly and delicately, the fingers scarcely touching. One veteran, his pigtail flowing, bowed to touch Tensing's hand with his forehead.
"We so far forgot ourselves," wrote an English climber of an earlier generation, "as to shake hands on the summit." This expedition so far forgot itself that everywhere one fancied that sunglasses were steaming embarrassingly: and suddenly, as if spontaneously, each climber, Hillary and Tensing the first of them, turned to Colonel Hunt, reflective in the background, and shook his hand in recognition of the truth that in a team venture of great happiness and success his has been the friendly hand which … it seems has led the expedition to success.
In what manner did Tensing greet the other Sherpas?
a.
Like a modest monarch.
b.
Coldly and diffidently.
c.
Without much interest.
d.
With great embarrassment.
2.
The Magna Carta
English nobles
One of the great documents in English history, the Magna Carta was signed by King John in 1215 to avoid a civil war threatened by his barons. The many provisions of the document cover both basic liberties, such as freedom of the church and reform of the law, and everyday matters, such as the royal forests and removal of fish traps from the rivers.
I. In the first place we have granted to God, and by this our present charter confirmed for us and our heirs for ever that the English Church shall be free, and shall have her rights entire and her liberties inviolate; and we will that it be thus observed; which is apparent from this, that the freedom of elections, which is reckoned most important and very essential to the English Church, we, of pure and unconstrained will, did grant, and did by our charter confirm and did obtain the ratification of the same from our Lord, Pope Innocent III, before the quarrel arose between us and our barons: and this we will observe, and our will is that it be observed in good faith by our heirs for ever. We have also granted to all freemen of our kingdom, for us and our heirs for ever, all the underwritten liberties, to be had and held by them and their heirs, of us and our heirs for ever.
XIII. And the city of London shall have all its ancient liberties and free customs, as well by land as by water; furthermore we decree and grant that all other cities, boroughs, and towns, and ports shall have all their liberties and free customs.
XXVIII. No constable or other bailiff of ours shall take corn or other provisions from anyone without immediately rendering money in exchange, unless by permission of the seller he is allowed to postpone payment.
XXX. No sheriff or bailiff of ours, or other person, shall take the horses or carts of any freeman for transport duty, against the will of the said freeman.
XXXI. Neither we nor our bailiffs shall take for our castles or for any other work of ours, timber which is not ours, against the will of the owner of that timber.
XXXIX. No freeman shall be taken or imprisoned or diseased or exiled or in anyway destroyed, nor will we go upon him nor send upon him, except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.
How might the ideas of the
Magna Carta
have arrived in America to be incorporated into early American law?
a.
English settlers brought these ideas with them when they established the American colonies.
b.
American revolutionaries stole a copy of the
Magna Carta
.
c.
Printed newspapers from England were sent to America.
d.
Americans traveled to England to study English history and returned with new ideas.
3.
Modern Mystery, Ancient Killer
The American Southwest, with its blazing sun and wide open spaces seems an unlikely place for an outbreak of deadly disease. Epidemics have traditionally favored crowded conditions associated with the nation's inner cities. Yet, mysterious death has struck the desert more than once over time. One such case began in May 1981, in the small town of Cuba, New Mexico.
Twenty-eight-year-old Jimmy Bistie had a sore throat. Just trying to swallow brought tears to his eyes. Jimmy, A Navajo, had consulted several chanters, or medicine men, about his problem. No one had been able to help. With a throbbing head and aching muscles, he then turned to the Cuba Health Center as a last resort.
The physician's assistant who examined Jimmy was not overly concerned. Diagnosing the illness as a bad case of strep throat, he gave Jimmy penicillin and aspirin and sent him home with orders to rest.
But Jimmy's condition went from bad to worse in spite of the medication. His temperature shot up. A deep, persistent cough tore at his chest and made his head throb harder than ever. He had trouble getting his breath. Alarmed, he began to notice flecks of blood in his handkerchief after each coughing attack. Convinced that the "white man's medicine" would never cure her son, Jimmy's mother insisted that he visit another chanter. With his brother driving, Jimmy and his mother and sister set off to find a medicine man who lived on the Navajo Reservation in the northwestern part of the state.
Hours later, the long trip over the hot, dry hills ended in failure. The medicine man could not be found. Jimmy was now burning with fever, and the coughing was making it almost impossible for him to breathe. Badly frightened, his family rushed him to the Gallup Indian Medical Center.
Jimmy was carried into the emergency room, where Dr. Molly Ettenger and her staff began working to save his life. Within minutes, however, Jimmy lost consciousness, and then his heart stopped beating. While a nurse gave him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, he was hooked to a respirator that helped him breathe. For another day, he held on to life. Then, the end came.
What had killed Jimmy Bistie?
The technicians in the Gallup lab were the first to find the answer. After examining samples of fluid from Jimmy's lungs, they hurried to telephone Dr. Ettenger. Black Death had struck in New Mexico. Jimmie Bistie had died of plague.
To most Americans, the word "plague" brings images of an ancient epidemic, as far removed from modern life as gloomy castles and knights in shining armor. But, in the late Middle Ages, plague was an all-too-real threat to Europeans. Between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries, almost half the population of that continent was wiped out by the Black Death, so named because of blood spots under the skin that turned black.
The Black Death
In 1894, Dr. Alexandre E. J. Yersin isolated and described the cause of plague – bacteria carried by the common flea. In most cases, plague entered the body when a flea injected the bacteria through the victim's skin. Early plague epidemics could have been controlled by the elimination of rats and the infected fleas they carried.
Dr Ettenger knew that this illness from the past was no stranger to the United States. It had struck its first blow in 1900, when ships carrying plague infected rats arrived in San Francisco from Hong Kong and Hawaii.
Soon after, the disease moved into the American countryside. There, infected fleas found new hosts: squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits and prairie dogs. By 1949, New Mexico, with its high population of wild rodents, led all states in number of reported cases of plague.
An ordinary case of plague wasn't unheard of in Gallup, but Jimmy Bistie's case was anything but ordinary. His strep throat had masked the early symptoms of the disease. More importantly, Jimmy had not developed "bubonic" plague, in which the bacteria attacks the lymphatic system, producing large swellings, or "buboes," in the armpit or groin.
Jimmy had come down with pneumonic plague, possibly the world's most infectious and deadly form of pneumonia. The bacteria had invaded his lungs. During the last days of his life, with each breath and cough, Jimmy has sprayed with killer germs everyone crossing his path.
Why was the physician's assistant not concerned with Jimmy's condition?
a.
The symptoms are similar to strep throat, which is not serious.
b.
The assistant was not responsible if he gave a wrong diagnosis.
c.
The assistant believed that penicillin could cure anything.
d.
Jimmy should have come back after taking aspirin.
4.
Interdependence
Every day each of us interacts with people around the world, even though we may not realize it. When you wake up in the morning and punch your pillow before going back to sleep, you may be touching cloth made from cotton grown in Egypt. Your breakfast may include bananas from Latin America. Your ride to school or work may take place in a car from Japan, Germany, or South Korea. Even if the car was made in the United States, chances are that it was put together in Canada. Your jeans may have been sewn in Mexico.
Transportation—the movement of goods and people—makes our interaction with people around the world possible. Imagine how different your life would be if the only goods you could buy were ones produced within your immediate area. Imagine how you would feel if you had to live out your life without ever traveling more than a few miles from where you were born.
Geographers study how people shape the earth's surface. They examine how people move from place to place, how they settle the earth, and how they form societies. Although the human population is scattered unevenly across the earth, we all interact with each other. Some people travel from place to place. Others talk to people around the world by telephone, mail, and e-mail. The Internet, radio, television, and books spread different ideas and ways of life.
Goods and services are also exchanged around the world. Some of the clothes we wear come from other countries. In turn, we send other countries things they need that we produce.
In short, we need other countries, and they need us. No country in the world today can survive strictly on its own. The word we use to describe this relationship is interdependence.
What describes the relationship of countries needing each other?
a.
dependence
b.
interdependence
c.
independence
d.
geography
5.
Surviving the Nazi Concentration Camps
Bloeme Evers-Emden
During World War II, the Nazis conducted a terrible campaign against Jews in Germany and in conquered territories, which has come to be called the Holocaust. Nazis rounded up millions of Jews, Slavs, Gypsies, and others and shipped them off to concentration camps, where they were either killed outright or used for slave labor. Millions died in gas chambers; huge numbers of others in the camps died from disease, exposure, malnutrition, overwork, physical abuse, and torture. In this passage, one of the few Jewish people who came out of the camps alive describes how she and several other women managed to survive.
I can only remember a few things about those countless hours on that train from Westerbork to Auschwitz. I remember we were pressed against one another, not having any room and falling down in sleep—nothing more. I do remember the arrival very well. The doors of the cars finally opened and men stood there in blue and white striped outfits. They screamed and kicked us out of the cars. I also remember suddenly seeing a woman talking to one of those people; I concluded that he was someone she knew and then I understood that they were prisoners as well.
We were taken, with our baggage, to a large area that was lit up by extraordinarily strong lights—so strong that I had the feeling that they were moons. I thought, We're on another planet—that crazy idea fit right into my experience. I think that that trip had somewhat dulled our awareness, allowing for thoughts that did not arise from ordinary reality. I thought, We have arrived on another planet after that trip, and here there are three moons. The place was muddy. Some people stamped their valuables into the ground.
Then we were taken to rooms where we had to undress. That was an enormous shock for me. I was eighteen, shy, and had been brought up chastely, according to the prevailing morality. It goes without saying that I was embarrassed and ashamed. I remember an audible crack in my head, from being totally naked before the eyes of men. And then the thought came like a flash that, from then on, other norms and values would be in effect, that I would have to adjust to that, and that an entirely new life was beginning or death was waiting.
The most horrible things happened to you as well as to others. Later, from reading Bruno Bettelheim's work, I learned about the strange experiences, protective mechanisms, called "derealization" and "depersonalization." Derealization is when reality is not experienced as reality: this cannot be true; this doesn't exist. And depersonalization, that is the phenomenon of a split of the personality: I stood to the side—and saw myself simultaneously walk on; object and subject at the same time. You are the object of your own observation, and at the same time, you are the subject who walks off, or who is hungry, or who is suffering.
I also remember very well that I [absorbed] extremely sharp images and simultaneously shut off my feelings. I saw things with my eyes, but no more. Otherwise, you couldn't have survived, you couldn't have gotten through it.
From Auschwitz, I also remember that dull, terrible amazement that flooded over me when I learned that there were, apparently, people who were instructed to destroy other people, to kill, to annoy, to torment them to death. This was something that absolutely didn't fit into my image of humanity and the world, and I was stunned. I had heard and read stories. I could remember the events of 1941 in the Jewish neighborhood in Amsterdam, but you could still think of that as an excess or coincidence—a row that got out of hand, or whatever. But it turned out to be a system, not something that happened by chance. I became very depressed knowing that such things existed. I didn't want to accept it. I had been brought up with respect for all people, insofar as they earned it on the basis of personal achievement or conduct, but not on the basis of race or heritage. I saw that the philosophy behind this system was carried out under the banner of a kind of inequality—an inferiority opposed to a superiority—and that the inferiors had to be crushed, whatever it took. To know this, and to be penetrated by this reality, was shattering.
Moreover, there was, of course, a huge difference between having heard and read about something, and experiencing it as reality, feeling also so powerless, like a bit of fluff in the wind. It was a long time before I got any grasp of this reality. That is, in the sense of being successful in adapting to the conditions and being able to give and receive support, and in that way exercise some influence.
In their treatment of people the goal of the SS [Nazi police force] was, aside from physical annihilation, to degrade a person, to take away completely—to really completely tear to pieces—to destroy, your self-respect, to make you into a rag, without any will. Because of the isolation, you were uncertain about everything. You didn't know how things stood with the war, you didn't know how it was progressing, you didn't know anything about the outside world, but you also didn't know anything about the "inside" world. You didn't know what you would do the next day, what they were up to—whether the doors of the gas chamber would open for you the next day. That was all a closed book. Something like that is real torment.
How did the reality of morality in the camp differ from what the narrator had been reared in?
a.
They were basically the same in both places.
b.
The author learned to cope with the reality of the situation.
c.
She had been reared in a very different and chaste society.
d.
Life in the camp was more strict and morally chaste than her previous life.
6.
from
The Clay Marble
Minfong Ho
Glencoe Literature Library
I remembered happier times, when I was just two or three years old, and the smiling round-faced Prince Sihanouk ruled Cambodia. Our little village was a peaceful and prosperous place then, the rice fields green and calm, the harvests plentiful. At wedding and on temple feast days, I had sat curled in my mother's warm lap, nibbling at some sticky rice and coconut, sleepily watching the familiar faces of my father and brother, cousins, aunts, and grandparents dancing by the light of a kerosene lamp in the temple courtyard.
But then the fighting and bombing had started. At first the war had been distant and mysterious. Tiny silver airplanes, like fishes in the sky, would fly over us before disappearing into the horizon. Then the bombing had come closer, so close that the bombs shook the soil beneath my bare feet. My father and the other farmers in our village dug trenches where we all hid, crouching at the sound of approaching planes. For months, bombs were dropped around us, sometimes as often as five or six times a day, and many of the villagers were killed or hurt by shrapnel.
Gaunt young Communist soldiers dressed in black came down from the hills to tell us that it was the American imperialists who were bombing us. Kill the imperialists, they exhorted us, and kick out Prince Sihanouk. But that was like being told to catch evil spirits—so faceless and far away were the pilots in their airplanes and the Prince in his palace.
Yet, remote as they seemed, they must have been defeated, because the bombing stopped. Soon the Communist soldiers took over the village, announcing that they had "liberated" us.
Liberation turned out to be a long nightmare of hunger and misery. And fear—always that cold, silent fear. My brother and most of the other young men in our village were sent miles away to dig ditches with huge work crews. Most of the women and children were allowed to remain at home, but we had to work much harder than before, and always under the watchful eyes of the armed soldiers. We never got enough to eat, and were sometimes fed only rice gruel and boiled banana stalks at dawn and dusk.
One night my father was roused from his sleep and taken away by two soldiers. We found his body the next day, at the edge of the forest. Had he been killed because he knew how to read and write and had taught the village children their alphabet? Or perhaps because he had gone to catch some snails in the fields for my grandmother to eat because she was sick and dying? I will never know. I knew only that I was not allowed to ask about him, or even cry when I missed him.
Killing the Imperialists and kicking out the Prince was compared to what?
a.
a nightmare
b.
a long day of work
c.
to catching evil spirits
d.
to catching slippery fish
7.
Firefight in Vietnam
John Ketwig
Official United States participation in the Vietnam War took place from 1964 to 1973. What was it like to serve in the Vietnam War? In the following passage, a soldier named John Ketwig describes his harrowing experience driving a truck loaded with ammunition in a battle zone.
Frantic men, distorted by wet and mud and fear, waved me toward the perimeter. Figures seemed to loom up out of the sound and fury, then disappear as if consumed by it. The roar never quieted. It banged inside my head in waves, drowning out my thoughts, and I lost all sense of where I was or where I was going. It didn't matter; it all looked the same. I managed to coax the tired truck through the slime to a gun emplacement [site]. As the gun roared, steam rose, and brown, half-naked men struggled to load another shell. I hesitated, not knowing what to do. Two of the men clambered up onto the truck and hefted the ammo down to their buddies. I pulled the lever out of gear and went back to help. "Only ten cases!" They ignored me, tossing the heavy wooden crates into the soft goo. There was no stopping them. These weren't men; one look at their eyes told me that. These were frightened animals desperate to survive. A slap to my helmet startled me. A face, distorted by clods of wet mud, shouted and pointed at a round erupting about a hundred yards away. "Go! Go! Get out of here!" The clear white of the eyes seemed incongruous against the dull brown mask. "They're walkin' 'em in on ya!" Another round, closer this time, threw swamp into the air. It was closer, and it was on a direct line toward us. Charley was adjusting his aim round by round, closer and closer to me. I had to get out of there. Sweat and debris seemed to cloud my eyes. I couldn't really see where I was headed, but I made the truck lurch forward. Behind me, I heard bumping and swearing as the gunners dived off. God, the noise was awful! There was so much noise, so much action, but it was a kind of action I had never seen, confusing, and I wished Shotgun had been there to offer advice. I saw another gun crew, figured they could use ammunition, and forced the truck toward them. It bogged, refused to move. I pulled levers, screamed at it, and it ground forward again. I lost sight of the gun when a sea of brown swill washed over the broken windshield. The wipers cut through, and I bounced toward my goal. I ground the tired truck to a halt and burst out the door in such a hurry I went face first into the slime. I pulled myself up and clambered onto the truck, fighting the weight the mud had added to my loose-fitting jungle fatigues. The ammo cases were heavy, bulky, slippery. I managed to get a couple over the side before the guys arrived. Mud-soaked forms rose to help, only their eyes and teeth showing color against the brown. I'm not sure why, but I heard myself shouting, "Only ten! Only ten cases!" again and again. Then the truck was empty and the men were back at the gun. Smack! A blow to the side of my head knocked me off my feet and out into space. I hit the mud on my back, and something heavy landed on top of me, threatened to smother me.
What noise did the guns make?
a.
a roar
b.
a scream
c.
a whistle
d.
a bang
8.
The Odyssey
Homer
The Greek poet Homer, who probably lived about 700 B.C. or 800 B.C., wrote two great epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey. The two poems had a profound influence on the literature of ancient Greece and can be counted among the great works of Western literature. The passage below describes Odysseus's encounter with the monstrous Cyclops in the Odyssey.
[231] "We lit a fire, offered some of the cheeses in sacrifice, ate others of them, and then sat waiting till the Cyclops should come in with his sheep. When he came, he brought in with him a huge load of dry firewood to light the fire for his supper, and this he flung with such a noise on to the floor of his cave that we hid ourselves for fear at the far end of the cavern. Meanwhile he drove all the ewes inside, as well as the she-goats that he was going to milk, leaving the males, both rams and he-goats, outside in the yards. Then he rolled a huge stone to the mouth of the cave—so huge that two and twenty strong four-wheeled wagons would not be enough to draw it from its place against the doorway. When he had so done he sat down and milked his ewes and goats, all in due course, and then let each of them have her own young. He curdled half the milk and set it aside in wicker strainers, but the other half he poured into bowls that he might drink it for his supper. When he had got through with all his work, he lit the fire, and then caught sight of us, whereon he said: [252] " 'Strangers, who are you? Where do you sail from? Are you traders, or do you sail the sea as rovers, with your hands against every man, and every man's hand against you?' [256] "We were frightened out of our senses by his loud voice and monstrous form, but I managed to say, 'We are Achæans on our way home from Troy, but by the will of Zeus, and stress of weather, we have been driven far out of our course. We are the people of Agamemnon, son of Atreus, who has won infinite renown throughout the whole world, by sacking so great a city and killing so many people. We therefore humbly pray you to show us some hospitality, and otherwise make us such presents as visitors may reasonably expect. May your excellency fear the wrath of heaven, for we are your suppliants, and Zeus takes all respectable travelers under his protection, for he is the avenger of all suppliants and foreigners in distress.' [272] "To this he gave me but a pitiless answer, 'Stranger,' said he, 'you are a fool, or else you know nothing of this country. Talk to me, indeed, about fearing the gods or shunning their anger? We Cyclopes do not care about Zeus or any of your blessed gods, for we are ever so much stronger than they. I shall not spare either yourself or your companions out of any regard for Zeus, unless I am in the humor for doing so.
Why does Odysseus describe the stone as "so huge that two and twenty strong four-wheeled wagons" would not be able to move it?
a.
to compare the size of the Cyclops to the size of his men
b.
to show that the Cyclops lacked technology
c.
to demonstrate that the sheep would not be able to escape
d.
to compare the living quarters of the Cyclops to Greek homes
9.
Germany: Together Again
It was one of the biggest parties in German history. On November 9, 1989, thousands of people poured into the streets—cheering, singing, and hugging each other. The Berlin Wall could no longer keep the German people apart.
Today there is only one Germany, but after World War II, there were two. After surrendering in 1945, Germany was carved into four parts. The United States, the United Kingdom, and France merged their three parts into one country—West Germany. The Soviet Union's portion became East Germany.
Deep within Soviet territory lay the city of Berlin. It also was divided into four parts. The Soviet section became East Berlin. The remaining sections combined into West Berlin, which became part of West Germany.
In West Germany, the United States and its allies encouraged a democratic government that allowed people to choose their leaders from among competing political parties. The Soviets instituted a one-party, Communist government that gave East Germans no political choices and little control over their own lives.
East Germans soon grew unhappy with their government. During the early 1960s, refugees poured into West Germany through Berlin. Desperate to stop the flow, East Germany's government erected the Berlin Wall in 1961. Built of concrete and topped with barbed wire, the Wall separated West Berlin from East Berlin, blocking the exit route for East Germans. Those caught trying to escape to West Berlin were often shot by guards who had orders to kill.
The Wall held Germans apart for more than 20 years. By 1989, however, people across Eastern Europe were demanding change. East Germans wanted freedom. They forced their leaders to open the Wall on November 9, and Germany reunited within a year.
However, after 40 years of living under separate political systems, many differences had developed between East Germans and West Germans. Former West Germans support the competition of a market economy. They live a more prosperous lifestyle than do former East Germans.
Former East Germans regret the loss of free health care and the guaranteed jobs that came with communism. Although East Germany was an industrial giant, it lacked modern necessities such as adequate transportation systems and reliable telephone service. Today Germany is investing heavily to improve services for all its citizens.
Why was the Berlin wall built?
a.
to prevent floods
b.
to prevent invasion from other countries
c.
to prevent refugees from fleeing to West Germany
d.
to prevent refugees from fleeing to East Germany
10.
"The Black Plague" from
The Decameron
Giovanni Boccaccio
Sweeping across Europe in the mid-1300s, the bubonic plague killed an estimated one-fourth to one-third of Europe's population. Here, in the introduction to his Decameron (1353), the Italian writer Giovanni Boccaccio describes the terrors of the plague. The book itself is a series of tales told by a group of seven ladies, survivors of the plague, who are trying to divert the attention of their companions from the horrors of the Black Death.
In the year then of our Lord 1348, there happened at Florence, the finest city in all Italy, a most terrible plague; which, whether owing to the influence of the planets, or that it was sent from God as a just punishment for our sins, had broken out some years before in the Levant [the eastern part of the Mediterranean], and after passing from place to place, and making incredible havoc all the way, had now reached the west. There, in spite of all the means that art and human foresight could suggest, such as keeping the city clear from filth, the exclusion of all suspected persons, and the publication of copious instructions for the preservation of health; and notwithstanding manifold humble supplications offered to God in processions and otherwise; it began to show itself in the spring of the [previously mentioned] year, in a sad and wonderful manner.
Unlike what had been seen in the east, where bleeding from the nose is [the first sign of fatal disease], here there appeared certain tumors in the groin or under the arm-pits, some as big as a small apple, others as an egg; and afterwards purple spots in most parts of the body; in some cases large and but few in number, in others smaller and more numerous—both sorts the usual messengers of death. To the cure of this malady, neither medical knowledge nor the power of drugs was of any effect; whether because the disease was in its own nature mortal, or that the physicians (the number of whom, taking quacks and women pretenders into the account, was grown very great,) could form no just idea of the cause, nor consequently devise a true method of cure; whichever was the reason, few escaped; but nearly all died the third day from the first appearance of the symptoms, some sooner, some later, without any fever or other accessory symptoms. What gave the more virulence to this plague, was that, by being communicated from the sick to the hale, it spread daily, like fire when it comes in contact with large masses of combustibles. Nor was it caught only by conversing with, or coming near the sick, but even by touching their clothes, or anything that they had before touched.
What is the first symptom of the plague in persons in Florence?
a.
nosebleed
b.
tumors
c.
purple spots
d.
fire
