“Living Like Weasels” Reading Quiz
1. The author’s purpose for including the anecdote about the weasel attached to the
eagle is to
a. show the savagery of nature in general and weasels in particular.
b. illustrate that the difference between predator and prey is minimal.
c. suggest that creatures in nature are very adaptable.
d. convey the single-minded tenacity of the weasel.
2. The author uses the exclamation “Weasel!” in line 56 without an article to
a. clarify what she is seeing by naming it.
b. convey her trepidation at what the animal might do.
c. show that this individual weasel embodies the essence of all weasels.
d. suggest that she is not sure if it is one or more than one weasel.
3. The author describes the impact of the glance she exchanged with the weasel,
writing: “It was also a bright blow to the brain, or a sudden beating of brains”
(lines 69–70). What literary device does she use here to re-create the intensity of
her experience?
a. onomatopoeia
b. personification
c. similes
d. alliteration
4. What does the author mean when she describes the “tape” that both the weasel
and she plugged into as a blank?
a. For a short moment, she didn’t think; like the weasel, she simply was.
b. Her mind was wiped clean of any thoughts after her encounter with the
weasel.
c. She could remember little other than what the weasel looked like.
d. Their minds connected but went to different places.
5. In comparison to humans and their thoughts, the weasel's “journal is tracks in
clay, a spray of feathers, mouse blood and bone” (lines 91–92). Which statement
expresses what Dillard thinks about this existence?
a. Weasels live fully in the physical world of senses and actions.
b. Weasels live a circumscribed life that has no redeeming value.
c. Weasels’ lives are dull and transitory.
d. Weasels can only live by killing others.
6. What lesson does the author derive from her meeting with the weasel?
a. Humans should always live thoughtlessly and mindlessly.
b. Nature can teach humans how to cope with the everyday issues of
survival.
c. Humans must find the one thing that matters in life and hang on to it.
d. Humans have to remember that they can live any way that they want to.
7. The talon of a bird is its
a. throat.
b. beak.
c. claw.
d. feather.
8. A person who behaves ignobly acts in a way that is
a. contemptible.
b. arrogant.
c. commendable.
d. foolish.
9. Which word is most closely related to the meaning of inexplicably?
a. indefinitely
b. unavoidably
c. quizzically
d. mysteriously
10. What is one meaning of supposition?
a. fact
b. assumption
c. certainty
d. conclusiveness