SAMPLE: History

Background: In 1996, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC mounted a WW II exhibition. One of the results was a sharp, loud debate about the morality of dropping the two atomic bombs on Japan.

Process: Read the poem William Stafford's At The Bomb Testing Site at: www.enotes.com/bomb-testing

Questions:

1. a) Why would the locale be a desert location?

b) What is prophetic about such a location?

2. For what is the lizard waiting?

3. a) What were the names of the two bombs dropped on Japan?

b) On what cities were they dropped?

4. What radioactive reaction occurred within them?

5. a) What were the immediate results of the explosion on the population living in the cities?

b) on the architecture?

6. What were the longer term health effects?

7. What devices would measure the amount of radiation in an area?

8. What consequence of the arms race is suggested in lines 9 and 10?

9. Name two benefits of nuclear energy.