The Great Moon Hoax (Reading)

Click on the link below for the reading passage:

The Great Moon Hoax

1) Before 1835, John Herschel was famous for:

A) constructing a massive telescope in South Africa.
B) being honored by the British government,
C) identifying and naming the a number of moons.
D) discovering life on the moon.


2) The word "teeming" (paragraph 2, line 5) is closest in meaning to:

A) abound
B) generating
C) devoid
D) distributing


3) The author mentions the book, Christian Philosopher, or the Connexion of Science and Philosophy with Religion (paragraph 3):

A) to illustrate the sophisticated predictions made by scientists in the 19th century.
B) to provide evidence for the possibility of life on the moon.
C) because it brought scientific theories and religious beliefs together for the first time.
D) to give an example of the preposterous speculations made by respected scientists.


4) The word "outlandish" (paragraph 4, line 5) is closest in meaning to:

A) peculiar
B) fabricated
C) distinctive
D) disillusioning


5) Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 6?

A) The author of the story had invented it so that he could sell more copies of his pamphlet about newly-discovered moon species.
B) Many people remained skeptical about the claims made in the Sun.
C) In the 19th century, it was uncommon for newspapers to verify the sources of their information.
D) The Sun became the top newspaper in the country because other newspapers republished their articles.


6) The word "it" (paragraph 7, line 5) refers to:

A) the Edinburgh Journal of Science
B) Europe
C) story
D) hoax


7) Which of the following best expresses the essential information in the sentence, "Most accounts say the story was written by the Sun’s Cambridge-educated reporter Richard Adams Locke, and that he did it as a satire to mock the gullible public and “scientists” like Thomas Dick, who made wild claims based on nothing but speculation." (paragraph 8) 

A) Most agree that the story was written by Richard Locke in an attempt to support the predictions made Thomas Dick.
B) Few people disagree with the suggestion that Thomas Dick and the credulous public were the subjects of Richard Locke's ridicule.
C) It is generally accepted that the naive public, and the absurdity of scientists like Dick, were satirized by the articles which were written by Locke.
D) Thomas Dick was the subject of a parody which was published in the Sun.


8) All of the following are correct about the Sun newspaper EXCEPT:

A) The newspaper gained the largest readership in the word.
B) The author of the articles received permission from Herschel to publish them.
C) Publishers at the newspaper refused to acknowledge the falsity of the articles.
D) The published additional pamphlets to capitalize on their successful stories.


9) Choose THREE sentences that best complete the summary of the passage. Some answer choices do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not present in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage.

"The Great Moon Hoax" was an extraordinary success both in the wide reach the article had and the financial benefits that would result.

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A) Although John Herschel was a well-respected astronomer in his time, he made some unusual predictions about life on the moon.

B) The Sun newspaper published a six-part series about life on the moon supposedly supported by the work of John Herschel.

C) Thomas Dick believed that there were as many as 21 trillion inhabitants in the solar system, and as many as 4 million on the moon.

D) The articles suggested a wide variety of life on the moon and much of the public accepted the information without question.

E) The Sun became profoundly popular in spite of their series on the moon being revealed as fake.

F) Herschel, being a famous moon scholar, was quite annoyed at being tricked by the false depictions presented in the articles.