Virginia High School League
Scholastic Bowl, 2003-04 season
District Competition, Match #34
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. He completed some of his best sculptures for Cardinal Borghese (boar-GAY-zay), such as _The Rape of Proserpina_ and _David_ (1623). At St. Peter's, he designed the throne of St. Peter in the apse, and he also won the competition to design the Four Rivers Fountain. For ten points, what Italian Baroque sculptor also designed the Cornaro Chapel, which included his _Ecstasy of St. Theresa_?
ANSWER: Gian Lorenzo _Bernini_
2. Tammany Hall as a tiger. Santa Claus as a round, cheery dispenser of gifts. Republicans as elephants. Democrats as donkeys. For 10 points, these were all artistic creations of what 19th century political cartoonist?
ANSWER: Thomas _Nast_
3. For over a hundred years, it was observed on May 13, as Pope Boniface IV established it when he consecrated a former Roman temple as a church. Gregory III set its current date in the eighth century, though members of the Orthodox Church celebrate it on the first Sunday after Pentecost. For ten points, what holiday honoring known and unknown martyrs falls on November 1, the day after Halloween?
ANSWER: _All Saints'_ Day (or _All Hallows_)
4. For 10 points, what part of a neuron can reach several inches long and transmits impulses from one cell body to a synapse with another cell?
ANSWER: _axon_
5. For 10 points, what three words did both Chaucer in The Merchant's Tale and Shakespeare in Act II of The Merchant of Venice use to describe love?
ANSWER: _Love is blind_
6. When this city's ruins were first discovered in 1867, people believed this city was the Biblical Ophir, where King Solomon had his mines. Current archaeological evidence indicates it was built in the 3rd century AD, abandoned, and then reoccupied in the 10th century, probably by Bantu speakers. For 10 points, what is this massive ruined city in southern Africa, which lends its name to a nation formerly known as Rhodesia?
ANSWER: _Zimbabwe_
7. His career took off when he took over the tour of former slave Joice Heth, who claimed to be 160 years old. He toured the US with attractions such as the midget Tom Thumb and Swedish soprano Jenny Lind. For 10 points, who is this person that is most famous for his circus management, where he ran "The Greatest Show on Earth?"
ANSWER: Phineas T. _Barnum_
8. In the sentence "There were three reasons for his failure: laziness, poor health, and lack of education," what punctuation mark should follow the word failure?
ANSWER: _colon_ (a list follows)
9. We know that growth is the addition of cells, that is, to become larger. For 10 points, what process involves change without growth, an example being tadpoles sprouting legs?
ANSWER: _development_
10. She got her break in 1950, when she began singing on the radio with Cuba's leading band, La Sonora Matancera. She recorded "Bemba Colora" and "Quimbara" (KEEM-bah-rah) with Johnny Pacheco, and won the first of her five Grammys with Ray Barretto in 1989. For ten points, what influential Cuban singer, known as the "Queen of Salsa," passed away in 2003?
ANSWER: Celia _Cruz_
11. THIS IS A MATH QUESTION. For 10 points, what vector property is demonstrated by the equation, if alpha is a scalar: alpha times the sum of vectors a and b equals alpha times vector a plus alpha times vector b?
ANSWER: Scalar _Distributive_ Property of Addition
12. The AIDS virus attacks our immune system. For 10 points, which type of white blood cell is attacked by the AIDS virus?
ANSWER: _T_ cell or _helper T_ cell (prompt on leucocyte or white blood cell)
13. New Premier Dalton McGuinty, elected in a Liberal landslide, has blasted his Conservative predecessors for running up a large budget deficit. For 10 points, what is this Canadian province that generates over half of Canada's GDP?
ANSWER: _Ontario_
14. For 10 points, what 18th-century American short story writer is most associated with Sunnyside, New York, and set many of his stories in the Catskill Mountains?
ANSWER: Washington _Irving_
15. He had to quell a rebellion in Egypt after taking the throne in 485 BC, and only then was he able to attempt the completion of the project that had frustrated his father, Darius the Great. He assembled a great army and navy, which he personally led, against the Greek city-states. After his army was destroyed at Plataea (plah-TAY-uh) and his navy destroyed at Salamis, his expedition ended in failure. For 10 points, who was this Emperor of Persia?
ANSWER: _Xerxes_ the Great (ZERK-zees)
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. Listen carefully. When a pregnant woman has a negative one, and her husband and baby have a positive one, there is a chance for tremendous health problems for the baby. What factor is being described?
ANSWER: _Rh_ factor or _Rhesus_ factor
1B. What adjective meaning idealistic but impractical is derived from the name of the title hero of a European novel published in the early 1600s?
ANSWER: _quixotic_ (kwix-ot-ik)
2A. THIS IS A MATH QUESTION. What is the midpoint of the points (-7/3, 4/6) and (4/6, 7/12)?
ANSWER: _(-5/6, 5/8)_ (accept equivalents)
2B. What major Internet portal is hoping to re-energize the IPO market by launching its first stock offering in the spring of 2004?
ANSWER: _Google_
3A. In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, what was the name of Caesar's wife, who warned him to "Beware the Ides of March"?
ANSWER: _Calpurnia_
3B. The oxide of metal X has the formula XO. Which group in the Periodic Table contains metal X?
ANSWER: group _2_ or _alkali earth_ metals or group _II-A_ (two-A)
4A. What type of IRA, named for the Senator who proposed it, taxes money that is contributed to it, but does not tax growth or qualified withdrawls?
ANSWER: _Roth_ IRA
4B. What is the capital of Romania?
ANSWER: _Bucharest_
5A. Themis, Oceanus, Hyperion, Rhea, and Cronus were five members of what group of twelve children of Gaea and Uranus, known for their large size, who were defeated by the Olympians in a clash for supremacy?
ANSWER: _Titans_
5B. THIS IS A MATH QUESTION. 2/3, 1, 2, 5, 14 ... What is the next term in this sequence?
ANSWER: _41_ the sequence is a[n] = (a[n-1] * 3) - 1
6A. Name the Italian-American who achieved the first atomic chain reaction.
ANSWER: Enrico _Fermi_
6B. THIS IS A MATH QUESTION. The numbers 535 and 777 are palindromes; that is, they read the same forward and backward. What are the first two numbers whose squares are palindromes?
ANSWER: _11, 22_
7A. Who wrote the essay, "A Modest Proposal"?
ANSWER: Jonathan _Swift_
7B. What gas located in the earth's stratosphere helps filter out harmful ultraviolet radiation from the sun?
ANSWER: _ozone_ (also accept O-3)
8A. THIS IS A MATH QUESTION. In a triangle, angle A is 30 degrees. Angle B is 71.8 degrees. If the side across from angle B is 38, and the sine of 71.8 degrees is .95, then what is the side across from A?
ANSWER: _20_
8B. Along with "The Fountains of Rome" and "Roman Festivals," Ottorino Respighi (res-PEE-gee) composed a famous tone poem dedicated to what type of tree?
ANSWER: _pine_ tree ("The Pines of Rome")
9A. What Roman Emperor split the Roman Empire into two, creating a system of four people who would rule the Empire together?
ANSWER: _Diocletian_
9B. This poetic form most often has the rhyme scheme ABBA, ABBA, CDE, CDE. Name the form.
ANSWER: _Italian or Petrarchan (pet-rark-un) sonnet_ (prompt on sonnet)
10A. What is the highest possible score for a strike-less bowling game?
ANSWER: _190_ (10 spares, all 9 then 1, and 9 in the bonus frame after the 10th frame.)
10B. What state was the last of the lower 48 states to be admitted to the US?
ANSWER: _Arizona_
Third period, 15 toss-ups
1. For 10 points, what word can mean a kind of cruise ship or a sharply hit baseball with a low, flat trajectory?
ANSWER: _liner_
2. In this American novel, a near-fatal bobsled run occurs. After the crash, the wife of the title character, Zeena, takes care of both him and her cousin, Mattie Silver. For 10 points, name this Edith Wharton novel.
ANSWER: _Ethan Frome_
3. For 10 points, what is the practice where an investor can buy securities by borrowing money from the broker?
ANSWER: buying on _margin_
4. He was an orphaned bookworm who settled with relatives and eventually got married at a 1987 New York Mets game. He acquired his powers at age 16 while attending a science fair at Mid-Town High. His Uncle Ben and Aunt May were murdered by a man he could have apprehended but chose to ignore, making his uncle's saying "With great power comes great responsibility" hit home. For 10 points, who is this alter ego of Peter Parker, and title character of the 2002 Tobey Maguire movie?
ANSWER: _Spiderman_ (accept Peter Parker before it is mentioned)
5. When you check the box to have your web browser remember your Yahoo password, or your preferences for a web site, the web site gives you a small string of data. For 10 points, what is the name of this string of data, which can sometimes contain unwanted data?
ANSWER: _cookie_
6. For 10 points, what is the correct formula for nitrogen(I) oxide?
ANSWER: _NO_
7. A web site related to this tragedy has gotten the attention of new Jefferson County, Colorado, sheriff Ted Mink. For 10 points, what was this 1997 tragedy, where Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 13 people before taking their own lives?
ANSWER: _Columbine_ High School shooting (accept equivalents)
8. For 10 points, what are the attractive forces that allow krypton molecules to exist in the solid state?
ANSWER: _van der Waals_ forces
9. This alphabet is traditionally known as futhark (foo-THARK) after the first six letters of the alphabet. It was actually first used in southern Europe and was then carried north by the Germanic tribes with whom this alphabet is most associated. For 10 points, what was this alphabet used to write Anglo-Saxon, Norwegian, Danish and Swedish until the rise of Christianity and the adoption of the Latin alphabet?
ANSWER: _runes_ or _runic_ alphabet
10. 85% of this country, which the Romans called Numidia, lies in the Sahara Desert and almost none of its 33 million inhabitants live there. Parts of its southeast are claimed by Libya and it supports the Polisario Front in its western neighbor, Morocco. For 10 points, what is this country whose cities include Batna, Constantine, Oran and its capital, Algiers?
ANSWER: _Algeria_
11. THIS IS A MATH QUESTION. For 10 points, what theorem is achieved if the law of cosines is derived with the angle given equal to ninety degrees?
ANSWER: _PYTHAGOREAN_ Theorem
12. This literary captain who lost a leg to "this dumb brute" had his ship sunk, killing all but one of his crew. For 10 points, who was the captain of the whaling ship Pequod (pee-kwod) in Melville’s Moby Dick?
ANSWER: Captain _Ahab_
13. For 10 points, what expansion pack to The Sims lets you control closeness on the "cuddle couch" and take a dip in the "love tub"?
ANSWER: The Sims _Hot Date_ Expansion Pack
14. For 10 points, what group of nomadic people invaded Egypt around 1720 BC, ending the Middle Kingdom and ruling Egypt for about 150 years?
ANSWER: _Hyksos_ (HIK-sohs)