These Questions Are for Use in the Virginia High School League S Scholastic Bowl Competition

Virginia High School League Scholastic Bowl, 2003-04 season District Competition, Match #12

These questions are for use in the Virginia High School League’s Scholastic Bowl competition at the District level. Shawn Pickrell, Marian Suter, Chris Moretti, Susan Gallaher, Adam Fine and Gary Bugg are the authors of these questions.

Districts must observe the following conditions, which must be known by all coaches, competitors and spectators of the competition:

(a) Release of these questions to any entity not affiliated with the District competition or the schools that are members of the given District before all District champions have been announced is prohibited. This is meant to keep question security. (b) Competitors may not discuss or otherwise reference these questions with other entities in the Commonwealth of Virginia that are associated in any way with the Scholastic Bowl competition before all District champions have been determined. This is also meant to keep question security. (c) After that, these questions may be freely released to entities within the Commonwealth of Virginia. These questions may also be discussed or otherwise referenced between entities within the Commonwealth of Virginia. This is meant to allow the proliferation of these questions so that all schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia may have practice material for future Scholastic Bowl competitions, and therefore this practice is encouraged. (d) These questions may not be released AT ANY TIME to entities outside the Commonwealth of Virginia, except with prior approval of Shawn Pickrell. Discussion of these questions, however, is permitted between entities within and without the Commonwealth of Virginia This will apply to ANY entity in the Commonwealth of Virginia that receives these questions, be it directly from Shawn Pickrell or indirectly through various means.

First period, 15 toss-ups

1. Identify the gerund in the following sentence: When we go to the movies, buying a big box of popcorn is absolutely necessary.

ANSWER: _buying_

2. It is carried by particles called gluons. Its range is limited to the distance between quarks, but it is so powerful, it can overcome the electromagnetic forces that repel like particles. For 10 points, what is this fundamental force of physics that holds atomic nuclei together?

ANSWER: _strong_ nuclear force

3. He hypothesized that exposure to cowpox rendered the bodies of dairymaids immune to smallpox. For 10 points, who was this man that created the first vaccine for smallpox?

ANSWER: Edward _Jenner_

All questions © 2003 by the question writers. Unauthorized use, as described on the first page of this document, is prohibited. Virginia High School League Scholastic Bowl, 2003-04 season District Competition, Match #12

4. For 10 points, of Virginia's 10 largest cities, how many are located outside the Hampton Roads area?

ANSWER: _four_ (Richmond, Alexandria, Roanoke, Lynchburg)

5. This state's lone Congressman, Bill Janklow, has been in the news for a crash where he ran a stop sign and killed a motorcyclist. For 10 points, Janklow represents what state in Congress?

ANSWER: _South Dakota_

6. He was allegedly killed when an eagle dropped a tortoise on his head. For 10 points, who is this ancient Greek playwright who wrote Samson Agonistes?

ANSWER: _Aeschylus_ (ESS-kuh-lus)

7. At the opening of this novel, set near a river in California, the two main characters enter with one carrying a dead mouse. For 10 points, name this John Steinbeck work about two migrant farm workers.

ANSWER: _Of Mice and Men_

8. Is this a leap year? It’s easy enough to find out. Simply take the last two digits of the current year and divide by a certain number. If the answer comes out as an integer, it is indeed a leap year in most cases. For 10 points, what is the number by which you must divide?

ANSWER: _four or 4_

9. The city of Gdansk in Poland is known by, for 10 points, what name in German?

ANSWER: _Danzig_

10. Built in 1923, it lost the letters LAND in the 1940's. Its location on Mount Lee allows for views from around the city, including the Griffith Observatory and the 101. For 10 points, what is this California landmark whose letters are each 50 feet tall and 30 feet wide?

ANSWER: _Hollywood Sign_

11. THIS IS A COMPUTATION QUESTION. For 10 points, what is the sum of 3/11 and 5/14?

ANSWER: _97/154_

12. Once biologists using an electron microscope saw a mitochondrion inside another cellular organelle. The mitochondrion was old and worn out; it was being digested with enzymes and its parts would be recycled. For 10 points, what organelle was the mitochondrion inside of?

ANSWER: _Lysosome_

13. Rose of Sharon is one of many characters in this novel focusing on the plight of a family forced to leave their Oklahoma home during the Depression and head to California. For 10 points, name this John Steinbeck novel.

ANSWER: _The Grapes of Wrath_

14. In 1999, he was awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Prize on the centennial of his birth for his musical contributions. Composer of the concert piece Black, Brown and Beige, he and his orchestra starred at the Cotton Club from 1927 until 1931. For ten points, what composer of "Concerto for Cootie" and "Mood Indigo" was born with the first name Edward but took on a noble nickname?

ANSWER: Edward Kennedy "Duke" _Ellington_

15. For 10 points, what French king ruled between 1643 and 1715, was known as the Sun King, and was quoted as saying, "I am the State"?

ANSWER: _Louis XIV_

Second period, 10 directed questions for each team

Questions with an A after their number will be read to the team that selects set A of questions; questions with a B after their number will be read to the team that selects set B of questions.

1A. What set operation between sets A and B is defined as "as elements x such that x is contained in A or x is contained in B"?

ANSWER: SET _UNION_

1B. An object that is not massive enough for its gravity to cause fusion is given what name?

ANSWER: _brown dwarf_

2A. What poet wrote the line, "Terence, this is stupid stuff"?

ANSWER: A.E. _Housman_

2B. What four-letter musical term from the Italian for tail denotes the concluding section to a musical movement or composition?

ANSWER: _coda_

3A. If you cut open a tomato or a cucumber, one observable characteristic tells you immediately that these are fruits. What is that observable characteristic?

ANSWER: _seeds_

3B. THIS IS A COMPUTATION QUESTION. A equals the quantity x plus three to the fourth times the quantity x minus two squared {(x+3)^4*(x-2)^2}. B equals the quantity x plus three squared times the quantity x minus two cubed {(x+3)^2*(x-2)^3}. What is the reduced and distributed equivalent of the quotient A over B?

ANSWER: _(X^2 + 6X + 9)/(X - 2)_

4A. What most handsome of the Norse gods perished when his brother Hoder threw a mistletoe- laden spear at him, and could not be revived because Loki refused to weep?

ANSWER: _Balder_

4B. What battle was fought in 490 BC on a coastal plain 26 miles from Athens?

ANSWER: _Marathon_

5A. What was the name given to the massive religious revivals of the 1730s and 1840s?

ANSWER: _Great Awakening_s

5B. He was a trusted advisor to Odysseus but his name today designates a wise and trusted teacher. What is the word?

ANSWER: _mentor_

6A. On a number line, what is defined as the absolute value of the difference of two points?

ANSWER: _the distance between the points_

6B. Who, when asked to describe his biography in 50 words or less, left himself a 48 word buffer by summarizing "Crocs Rule"?

ANSWER: STEVE _IRWIN_ (prompt on "Crocodile Hunter")

7A. What Soviet leader banged a shoe on the table during a United Nations speech and proclaimed, "We will bury you!" to Americans?

ANSWER: Nikita _Khrushchev_

7B. What is a veto power that allows an executive to veto part, but not all, of a bill sent to his desk?

ANSWER: _line-item_ veto

8A. My Last Duchess by Robert Browning is an example of what type of poem, in which a narrator is addressing an unseen audience?

ANSWER: _dramatic monologue_

8B. THIS IS A COMPUTATION QUESTION. Two complementary angles have measures 4r and 5r. How many degrees does r measure?

ANSWER: _10_

9A. Who is the liberal comedian that is being sued by Fox News Network for the use of the words 'fair and balanced' in the title of his latest book?

ANSWER: Al _Franken_

9B. Identify the Walt Whitman poem from these lines: "Our fearful trip is done, / The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won."

ANSWER: _O Captain! My Captain!_

10A. The percent by mass of nitrogen in N2O is what?

ANSWER: _64_ percent

10B. The top or upper location of an aquifer changes level with wet and dry periods and is referred as the what?

ANSWER: _water table_

Third period, 15 toss-ups

1. For 10 points, what number family is defined to contain numbers that cannot be expressed as the quotient of two integers?

ANSWER: _Irrational_ Numbers

2. For 10 points, which B-complex vitamin is known as niacin?

ANSWER: _B-3_

3. Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter and Edward Albee are all playwrights who saw life as meaningless and people unable to communicate, take action, or survive in the world. For 10 points, by what name do we know this trend in mid-twentieth century theater, whose best- known proponent was Eugene Ionesco?

ANSWER: _Theater of the Absurd_

4. Twenty-seven chapters of this work are devoted to the idea that humanity cannot survive on reason alone; faith and mystical revelation are also necessary. Published in 1670, eight years after its author's death, it is a defense of religion against worldliness and indifference. For ten points, what philosophical work written by Blaise Pascal is translated into English as _The Thoughts_?

ANSWER: _Les Pensees_ (pahn-SAY); (accept _The Thoughts_ until the end)

5. For 10 points, what name is given to a mental disorder where the sufferer is obsessed with a single idea or interest in life, and comes from the Greek words for "one madness"?

ANSWER: _monomania_

6. The first lasted from 60 BC to 53 BC. The second lasted from 43 BC to 30 BC, and ended with the battle of Actium and the rise of Augustus as Roman Emperor. For 10 points, what were these ruling arrangements of the late Roman Republic which got their name from the fact that they both had three men sharing power?

ANSWER: _triumvirate_s

7. He employed French rococo and Chinese styles in his work, and became well known with the publication of _The Gentleman and Cabinet Maker’s Director_ in 1754. He worked almost exclusively in mahogany, creating cabinets, chairs, and other interior pieces for the Harewood House. For ten points, what foremost British furniture maker should not be confused with a pair of chipmunks or male exotic dancers?

ANSWER: Thomas _Chippendale_

8. When plant cells absorb water, the water exerts pressure, and the cells swell. For 10 points, what is this water pressure in plant cells called?

ANSWER: _turgor_ pressure accept _turgidity_

9. You probably know that terra firma means solid ground. For 10 points, what is the two-word Latin term that means unknown or unexplored land?

ANSWER: _terra incognita_

10. For many decades his WGN-Chicago morning show was sponsored by Sears and various breakfast cereals. When he went off the air in 2001 his 83-AAA shoes went directly to the Television Hall of Fame. For 10 points, who is this lovable clown who was known for his blue and red costume and his pies in the face?

ANSWER: _Bozo_

11. The Iona variety of it has a circle surrounding the intersection of the two bars, while the Maltese has eight points. The Lorraine form has two horizontal bars, while the Papal has three, and the one of Andrew is diagonal. For ten points, what is this principal symbol of Christianity, also coming in Greek and Latin forms?

ANSWER: _cross_

12. THREE ANSWERS REQUIRED. For 10 points, what three letters in German can have umlauts over them?

ANSWER: _a, o and u_

13. In Operation Watchtower, launched on August 7, 1942, American troops invaded, for 10 points, what island in the Solomons?

ANSWER: _Guadalcanal_

14. Water is a neutral molecule, yet it does have a partial charge on its hydrogen and oxygen atoms. For 10 points, what are such molecules called?

ANSWER: _polar_ molecules

15. This 1787 law was one of the few accomplishments of Congress under the Articles of Confederation. Among this law's provisions was that slavery would be forbidden and that this territory, for which the law was named, would eventually be divided into three to five states. For 10 points, what was this law that helped form the states of Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio?

ANSWER: _Northwest Ordinance_

SPARE QUESTIONS (In the second period, try to replace the question discarded with the a spare question in that subject area – i.e. science for science, social studies for social studies, etc.) Be sure to cross out the questions if/as they are used.

1. The party he founded is considered the ancestor of the Republican Party. For 10 points, who was this first Secretary of the Treasury and frequent opponent of Thomas Jefferson?

ANSWER: Alexander _Hamilton_

2. A compiler is a program that translates an entire high-level language program into machine language. For 10 points, what is a program that translates a program into machine language, but one line at a time?

ANSWER: _interpreter_

3. THIS IS A COMPUTATION QUESTION. In triangle ABC, angle A measures (2x + 37), angle B measures (4x + 9), and angle C measures (10x - 42). For 10 points, what is x?

ANSWER: _11_

4. For 10 points, in what Washington Irving short story does the title character have his horse newly shod, saddled, bridled, and buried with his feet uppermost?

ANSWER: _The Devil and Tom Walker_

5. Its New York Stock Exchange symbol is being changed to TWX, which was its symbol before it was swallowed in the largest merger in history. For 10 points, what is this corporation that has recently dropped the AOL from its name?

ANSWER: _Time Warner_