Journey To The Center Of The Earth

Multiple Choice and Long Answer questions create ideal opportunities for whole-book review, unit exam, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. How hot does Axel believe the center of the Earth to be?

A) 10,000 degrees F

B) 360,000 degrees F

C) 42,000 degrees F

D) Incalculably hot

2. What hereditary disease is said to be prevalent in Iceland?

A) Leprosy

B) Shaking palsy

C) Ague

D) Apoplexy

3. Why does the professor pull on the leaves of plants?

A) He’s checking if they are edible.

B) It’s a nervous habit.

C) It’s a way to prove a scientific theory.

D) He’s more impatient than nature.

4. What do the compass readings indicate after the storm at sea?

A) They are under Hamburg.

B) The compass is broken.

C) They are beneath Turkey.

D) They are on the shore they departed from.

5. According to the professor, what does science consist of?

A) Mistakes that lead to the truth

B) Hypotheses that lead to axioms

C) Experiments that lead to conclusions

D) Irrational ideas that redefine reason

6. What is the subject of the 700-year-old book?

A) A sword found in a cave

B) Norwegian princes in Iceland

C) Metaphysics and moral philosophy

D) The volcanoes of Iceland

7. What does the professor discover about Iceland’s library?

A) There isn’t a single library in the country.

B) The people share the library books among themselves.

C) It has a collection of 800,000 valuable texts.

D) It’s little used because most Icelanders can’t read.

8. How does Axel react to the deposits of precious minerals that he sees?

A) He takes a sparkling crystal to give to Gräuben.

B) He’s sad because boring tools will one day excavate them.

C) He feels he’s walking through a diamond.

D) He’s astonished to find those minerals at such a depth.

9. Whom does the professor credit with the invention of the runic characters?

A) Odin

B) Martin Luther

C) Martha

D) Philip Pirrip

10. What prompts the professor to say that “facts as usual give the lie to theories”?

A) The sight of a human giant herding mastodons

B) The temperature at 16 leagues deep

C) The discovery of potable water

D)The solution to the cryptogram

11. What are siliceous nodules?

A) Giant tree-like mushrooms

B) Prehistoric rodents with sharp teeth

C) Oddly shaped stalactites

D) Hollow stones full of crystals

12. Why does Axel think they’re better off than travelers in central Africa?

A) They have a plentiful supply of water.

B) The heat is not as bad as he expected.

C) There are no wild beasts.

D) They have a clear path to follow.

13. What does a Ruhmkorff apparatus do?

A) Provides explosive force exceeding gunpowder

B) Measures depth by gauging pressure

C) Enables communication through rocks

D) Produces a steady white light

14. What creatures do the explorers observe in the sea?

A) A giant sea turtle, a crocodile, and a serpent

B) An ichthyosaurus and a plesiosaurus

C) A whale and a porpoise

D) A stegosaurus and a brachiosaurus

15. What does Axel imagine as he stands in the sunlight on Snæfell?

A) Living the life of elves and sylphs

B) Being lost in a dark abyss

C) Fulfilling Gräuben’s belief in his courage

D) Dying of heat, thirst, or starvation

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. Describe Professor Lidenbrock’s teaching style. How does it reflect his nature?

2. Describe what’s going on in Axel’s mind when he nearly throws himself into the sea.

3. What does the professor decide to make public about their journey, and how is his tale received?