Super Quiz - October 31, 2011

Subject: BIRDS

(e.g., What color is the female of the common blackbird? Answer: Brown.)

FRESHMAN LEVEL

1. Which painter is renowned for his paintings of U.S. birds?
Answer________

2. Which bird migrates the farthest?
Answer________

3. It was once one of the most common of U.S. birds but is now extinct.
Answer________

GRADUATE LEVEL

4. What is an aviary?
Answer________

5. What bird is also known as an apteryx?
Answer________

6. What is a capon?
Answer________

PH.D. LEVEL

7. In Japan and China, this bird is trained and used to catch fish.
Answer________

8. Some cuckoos are brood parasites. What does that mean?
Answer________

9. The dodo was a flightless bird endemic to which island?
Answer________

ANSWERS:

1. John James Audubon.
2. Arctic tern.
3. Passenger pigeon.
4. An enclosed area where birds are kept.
5. Kiwi.
6. Castrated male chicken.
7. Cormorant.
8. Lays eggs in nests of other species.
9. Mauritius.

Super Quiz - October 29, 2011

Subject: SUN

Each answer contains the word "sun." (e.g., A ski area and resort community in central Idaho. Answer: Sun Valley.)
 
FRESHMAN LEVEL

1. Song title that begins, "Up in the morning, out on the job."
Answer________

2. Company that gave Elvis Presley his first recording contract.
Answer________

3. "Mad dogs and Englishmen" both do this.
Answer________

4. Louis XIV of France.
Answer________

5. This song's lyrics include, "Down Lover's Lane we'll wander, Sweethearts you and I."
Answer________

GRADUATE LEVEL

6. The Korean founder and leader of the worldwide Unification Church.
Answer________

7. A sitcom about four extraterrestrials that aired from 1996 to 2001.
Answer________

8. A 1926 novel by Ernest Hemingway.
Answer________

9. Title of a 1946 Western starring Jennifer Jones and Gregory Peck.
Answer________

10. This structure in Mexico is the third-largest of its kind in the world.
Answer________

PH.D. LEVEL

11. Phrase used to describe the Spanish Empire and later the British Empire.
Answer________

12. This song begins, "There is a house in New Orleans."
Answer________

13. A play that portrays a few weeks in the life of an African-American family living in Chicago's South Side.
Answer________

14. The first line of this song is "Goodbye to you, my trusted friend."
Answer________

15. An atmospheric phenomenon that creates bright spots of light in the sky.
Answer________

ANSWERS:

1. "That Lucky Old Sun."
2. Sun Records.
3. "Go out in the midday sun."
4. "The Sun King."
5. "Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie."
6. Sun Myung Moon.
7. "3rd Rock From the Sun."
8. "The Sun Also Rises."
9. "Duel in the Sun."
10. Pyramid of the Sun.
11. "The empire on which the sun never sets."
12. "House of the Rising Sun."
13. "A Raisin in the Sun."
14. "Seasons in the Sun."
15. Sundog.

Super Quiz - October 28, 2011

Subject: NICKNAMES

Who was known by the nickname? Initials are provided. (e.g., "The March King" (J.P.S.). Answer: John Philip Sousa.)

FRESHMAN LEVEL

1. "The Desert Fox" (E.R.)
Answer________

2. "The Lone Eagle" (C.L.)
Answer________

3. "The King of Swing" (B.G.)
Answer________

GRADUATE LEVEL

4. "Lady Day" (B.H.)
Answer________

5. "The World's Most Perfectly Developed Man" (C.A.)
Answer________

6. "Last of the Red Hot Mamas" (S.T.)
Answer________

PH.D. LEVEL

7. "Son of Sam" (D.B.)
Answer________

8. "The Yorkshire Ripper" (P.S.)
Answer________

9. "The Wickedest Man in the World" (A.C.)
Answer________

ANSWERS:

1. Erwin Rommel.
2. Charles Lindbergh.
3. Benny Goodman.
4. Billie Holiday.
5. Charles Atlas.
6. Sophie Tucker.
7. David Berkowitz.
8. Peter Sutcliffe.
9. Aleister Crowley.

Super Quiz - October 27, 2011

Subject: SOUTHEAST ASIA

(e.g., The highest mountains of Southeast Asia are in which country? Answer: Myanmar (Burma).)

FRESHMAN LEVEL

1. Southeast Asia is east of ___, south of ___ and north of Australia.
Answer________

2. What is the most widely practiced religion in Southeast Asia?
Answer________

3. What is the largest country in both area and population?
Answer________

GRADUATE LEVEL

4. Name two countries that were part of the former French Indochina.
Answer________

5. Name any capital city that begins with either a "J" or a "K."
Answer________

6. Name any capital city that begins with either a "P" or an "H."
Answer________

PH.D. LEVEL

7. More than 20 percent of the people in Southeast Asia live on this island.
Answer________

8. What Indonesian island exploded in 1883, killing thousands of people?
Answer________

9. What is the largest island in the Malay Archipelago?
Answer________

ANSWERS:

1. India, China.
2. Islam.
3. Indonesia.
4. Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam.
5. Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur.
6. Phnom Penh, Hanoi.
7. Java.
8. Krakatoa.
9. Borneo.

Super Quiz - October 26, 2011

Subject: WHO?

(e.g., U.S. private who was executed for desertion in World War II. Answer: Eddie Slovik.)

FRESHMAN LEVEL

1. Emperor who was born on a carpet.
Answer________

2. Hero whose body was preserved in a cask of brandy.
Answer________

3. President whose lasting legacy is the teddy bear.
Answer________

GRADUATE LEVEL

4. King who wore two shirts at his execution.
Answer________

5. Actress who continued to perform after one of her legs was amputated.
Answer________

6. U.S. millionaire who was obsessed with avoiding germs.
Answer________

PH.D. LEVEL

7. Nurse who had a pet owl named Athena.
Answer________

8. Author who died, along with her unborn child, at the young age of 38.
Answer________

9. French philosopher who was castrated.
Answer________

ANSWERS:

1. Napoleon Bonaparte.
2. Horatio Nelson.
3. Theodore Roosevelt.
4. Charles I of England.
5. Sarah Bernhardt.
6. Howard Hughes.
7. Florence Nightingale.
8. Charlotte Bronte.
9. Peter Abelard.

Super Quiz - October 25, 2011

Subject: OPERA

(e.g., Translate the title "Pagliacci." Answer: Clowns or players.)

FRESHMAN LEVEL

1. Who does U.S. Naval Officer Pinkerton jilt?
Answer________

2. This George Gershwin opera takes place in the fictitious Catfish Row.
Answer________

3. Translate the German title of the opera "Die Fledermaus."
Answer________

GRADUATE LEVEL

4. Giuseppe Verdi did NOT write this opera for the opening of the Suez Canal.
Answer________

5. What is the name of the barber in "The Barber of Seville"?
Answer________

6. The title character in this Georges Bizet opera dies when stabbed by Don Jose.
Answer________

PH.D. LEVEL

7. This opera by Benjamin Britten is based on a story by Herman Melville.
Answer________

8. This Richard Wagner opera is about a ghost ship that can never make port.
Answer________

9. In this operetta, countrymen try to keep a woman's money in the country.
Answer________

ANSWERS:

1. Madama Butterfly.
2. "Porgy and Bess."
3. The bat.
4. "Aida."
5. Figaro.
6. "Carmen."
7. "Billy Budd."
8. "The Flying Dutchman."
9. "The Merry Widow."

Super Quiz - October 24, 2011

Subject: HILL

Each answer ends in "hill." (e.g., The cooling effect of wind blowing on a surface. Answer: Windchill.)

FRESHMAN LEVEL

1. English prime minister during World War II.
Answer________

2. The U.S. Congress (informal).
Answer________

3. Some people make a mountain out of it.
Answer________

GRADUATE LEVEL

4. The first important battle of the American Revolutionary War.
Answer________

5. English comic noted for his long-running TV show.
Answer________

6. Idiom meaning "too old to be useful."
Answer________

PH.D. LEVEL

7. Where Louis Armstrong found his thrill.
Answer________

8. The Rough Riders charged up it.
Answer________

9. Site of the University of North Carolina.
Answer________

ANSWERS:

1. Winston Churchill.
2. Capitol Hill.
3. Molehill.
4. Bunker Hill.
5. Benny Hill.
6. Over the hill.
7. Blueberry Hill.
8. San Juan Hill.
9. Chapel Hill.