Watery Questions

Click on the answer you think is correct.


1. Choose the meaning closest to 'variety' in the text
   a) entertainment
   b) difference
   c) kind
   d) wave

2. Choose the meaning closest to 'triggered' in the text
   a) launched
   b) ended
   c) created
   d) initiated

3. Choose the meaning closest to 'volume' in the text
   a) sound level
   b) quantity
   c) area
   d) container

4. Choose the meaning closest to 'commonly' in the text
   a) sometimes
   b) often
   c) usually
   d) never

5. Choose the meaning closest to 'unwary' in the text
   a) alert 
   b) awake
   c) sleeping
   d) not alert

6. Choose the meaning closest to 'toss' in the text
   a) turn
   b) throw
   c) slide
   d) shoot

7. Choose the meaning closest to 'obliteration' in the text
   a) damage
   b) great damage
   c) partial destruction
   d) total destruction

8. Choose the meaning closest to 'swamp' in the text
   a) turn into soft ground
   b) destroy
   c) flood
   d) damage

9. Choose the meaning closest to 'buckling' in the text
   a) rising
   b) falling
   c) flattening
   d) bending

10. Choose the meaning closest to 'converge' in the text
   a) come together
   b) drift apart
   c) almost touch
   d) drop

11. Choose the meaning closest to 'plunges' in the text
   a) rise
   b) fall
   c) drop suddenly
   d) rise suddenly

12. Choose the meaning closest to 'instant' in the text
   a) second
   b) minute
   c) hour
   d) day

13. Choose the meaning closest to 'mirrors' in the text
   a) is higher than
   b) is different from
   c) is the same as
   d) is lower than

14. What is the source of the tsunamis power?
   a) a lot of water
   b) great speed
   c) a large amount of stationary water
   d) a large amount of moving water

15. To what extent are tsunamis connected to tides?
   a) a lot 
   b) a little
   c) a bit
   d) not much at all

16. What kind of ripples does a tsunami create?
   a) eccentric
   b) eurocentric
   c) concentric
   d) electronic

17. When did the most destructive tsunami in recorded history take place?
   a) in the last decade of the 19th century
   b) in the first decade of the 20th century
   c) in the second last decade of the 20th century
   d) in the second last decade of the 19th century

18. How many people died?
   a) three thousand six hundred
   b) thirty-six thousand
   c) three hundred and sixty thousand
   d) three million six hundred thousand

19. Has anyone ever seen a comet strike cause an tsunami?
   a) yes 
   b) no
   c) maybe
   d) we don't know

20. Are tsunamis of the size shown in the movie 'Deep Impact" possible?
   a) yes
   b) no
   c) maybe
   d) we don't know

21. What is the most frequent cause of tsunamis?
   a) comet strikes
   b) volcanic eruptions
   c) land based earthquakes
   d) earthquakes under the sea

22. What do you call places where the drifting plates that make up the lithosphere come together?
   a) reduction zones
   b) induction zones
   c) subduction zones
   d) conduction zones

23. Which of these zones has not produced a deadly tsunami in the last ten years?
   a) the one off Chile
   b) the one off Nicaragua
   c) the one off Mexico
   d) the one off India

24. What was the incidence of tsunamis in the period 1992-1996?
   a) about 3 a year
   b) about 3 a month
   c) about 4 a year
   d) about 17 a year

25. What is the last thing to happen before a tsunami begins?
   a) an undersea earthquake occurs
   b) the sea bottom bends
   c) the surface of the sea takes the shape of the bent sea floor
   d) the surface of the sea flattens