Test Your General Knowledge Skills! Trivia

1. People often say "as light as a cloud" when they talk about something very light. Actually, they should say "as heavy as a cloud," for a large cloud can weigh many tons. Clouds are made of small drops of water, and water has weight. Clouds do not fall on us because the tiny drops of water drift on rising currents of air.The paragraph tells mainly...

2. Born in New York City in 1850, Charlotte Ray was the first African American woman to become a lawyer in the United States and the first woman allowed to practice law in a court in the District of Columbia. She attended a school in Washington, D.C., and then taught at a university. Charlotte Ray graduated from law school in 1872, and the following month she was accepted by the District of Columbia bar. In addition to her brilliant legal work, she was known to have great interest in the women's suffrage movement.The paragraph tells mainly...

3. Many people believe Antarctica is so cold that only seals and penguins can live there. Yet on this frozen continent, scientists have discovered some strange forms of life, such as wingless flies and other insects. These creatures survive because their bodies contain a natural antifreeze. Tiny new animals have been discovered in the waters beneath Antarctica's ice. They have no eyes or mouths. They may get their food through roots, like plants.The paragraph tells mainly...

4. The Chinese invented paper almost a thousand years before Europeans did. In A.D. 105 Ts'ai Lun found that plant fiber that was ground up and soaked in water would dry into a lightweight, usable material on which to write. A Chinese chemist, Bi Sheng, invented movable type in 1040, about 400 years before Johannes Gutenberg developed it in Germany. More than 1,000 years ago, the Chinese invented the magnetic compass. This led to long-distance ocean travel and worldwide exploration and trade.The paragraph tells mainly...

5. Chocolate was popular with the Mayans and the Aztecs. They grew cacao beans and mixed them with honey and water to make a delicious drink. Europeans mixed chocolate with hot milk and sugar to create hot chocolate. Because of its sweet taste, chocolate came to be popular as a gift, particularly for a sweetheart.The paragraph tells mainly...

6. If you live in the deep South or the Southwest, you may have seen an armadillo. Armadillo means "little one in armor." The Spanish gave the animal this name because its back is covered with a shell of bony plates. When in danger, an armadillo rolls into a ball and is almost completely protected by its shell. Today naturalists report that armadillos are moving north. They have been spotted in Oklahoma. The paragraph tells mainly...

7. Deserts are fascinating ecosystems. Because they have so little water, any animal or plant that lives in a desert must be suited for the climate. The kangaroo rat does not drink any water. It gets moisture from seeds. Cacti and other desert plants have root systems that spread out over a large area just below the ground's surface. These roots quickly collect any rain that falls; then, they store it in stems that can expand to hold a considerable amount of moisture. The spines on the cacti keep desert animals from getting to the water.The paragraph tells mainly...

8. People in the United States often complain about the cost of beef, but nowhere is beef as costly as the famous Kobe beef of Japan. Kobe cattle are pampered from birth. They are given special food and drink two gallons of special liquid each day. Some Japanese are only too happy to pay the price for this delicious beef, often more than $300 per pound.The paragraph tells mainly...

9. Alexander Graham Bell is best known for inventing the telephone in 1876. This made him wealthy, and he used his money to invent many more things. Bell invented a type of metal detector, called an electric probe. Doctors used the probe to find metal pieces, such as bullets, in the human body, and it saved many lives. Bell also invented a vacuum jacket that forced air in and out of the lungs, helping people who had trouble breathing on their own. Bell experimented with flying machines and also built a boat called the hydrofoil. It was the fastest boat in the world for ten years.The paragraph tells mainly...

10. Are you aware that Americans are the only Western people who use a fork in the left hand to cut food but then shift the fork to the right hand to eat it? The fork was not used in England until the late 1700s, so it was rare or unavailable to pioneer American colonists. Not until the 1870s were forks universally accepted in the United States. The early American custom was to eat with the knife in the right hand and to spear food with its point—aided by a spoon and the fingers. When the fork was introduced, the custom of eating right-handed had become too much of a habit to be changed.The paragraph tells mainly...