Academic Vocabulary & Word Mechanics
An implied or indirect reference in literature to another well-known story, myth, historical event, or person (such as referring to a hidden problem as "opening Pandora's box") [11, p. 18].
What is an allusion?
In Kitum Cave, Preston describes the mineral crystals jutting from the dark walls as being "as sharp as" these modern medical tools [11, p. 21].
What are hypodermic syringes?
This exact geographical mountain on the border of Uganda and Kenya serves as the remote setting and biological origin point of Kitum Cave [11, p. 20].
What is Mount Elgon?
The French plantation worker who visited Kitum Cave in 1980 and caught the virus [11, p. 20].
Who is Charles Monet?
What is the name of the most viewed video on YouTube?
Baby Shark by Pinkfong(17 Billion+ Views)
A phrase or cultural expression whose figurative meaning is completely different from the literal definitions of its individual words (such as "biting off more than you can chew") [11, p. 18].
What is an idiom?
Preston uses a simile to describe colonies of fruit bats roosting on the dark ceiling, stating their glowing eyes looked down in the flashlight beams like these precious stones [11, p. 20].
What are red jewels?
This slippery, stomach-turning organic substance (bat guano) coated the rising stone shelves of Kitum Cave, signaling biological contamination and danger [11, p. 20].
What is green slime?
The core reason an author writes a text (such as to inform, entertain, or warn) [11, p. 18; 22, p. 119].
What is author's purpose?
What very popular movie from this summer (2026) broke the Top 5 Highest Grossing Movies of All Time?
1st- Avatar
2nd- Avengers: Endgame
3rd- Avatar: The Way of Water
4th- ____________________
5th- Titanic
Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026)
Using the prefix re- (again) and root plicate (fold or make), this biological term describes the process where a microscopic pathogen hijacks a host cell to produce millions of exact copies of itself [11, p. 21; 22, p. 119].
What is replicate?
Identify the specific figurative language technique used when Preston states that an explorer felt the dark cave's pull "like the gravity of an invisible planet" [11, p. 22].
What is a simile?
The literary term for when an environment actively poses danger and functions as the main adversary against characters [11, p. 18; 22, p. 119].
What is setting as an antagonist?
The primary weapon or tool used by Jack in Chapter 1 that contrasts with Preston's microscopic crystals [11, pp. 4, 21].
What is the knife
What PBS Kids show stars a nonhuman main character, and on the first episode, the main character loses a kite.
Hint: His adoptive "dad" wears a yellow hat
Curious George
Using the Latin prefix sub- (under/beneath) and root terra (earth), this term describes dark caverns, tunnels, or passages existing completely underground [22, p. 119; 24, p. 4].
What is subterranean?
When roosting bats suddenly take flight, Preston uses a simile comparing the dry, squeaky rustling of their wings to the sound of many of these household objects opening [11, pp. 20-21].
What are small doors being opened on dry hinges?
Kitum Cave was originally formed millions of years ago from this ancient, buried ecosystem [11, p. 21].
What is a petrified rain forest?
According to Preston, any deadly tropical virus is within this maximum travel time from every city on Earth [11, p. 22].
What is 24 hours (or a 24-hour plane flight)?
Please name 3 Taylor Swift Songs
NO POINTS IF YOU CANNOT GIVE ME 3
Blank Space
Cruel Summer (from Lover, 2019)
Blank Space (from 1989, 2014)
Anti-Hero (from Midnights, 2022)
Love Story (from Fearless, 2008)
cardigan (from folklore, 2020)
Shake It Off (from 1989, 2014) [1, 2, 3]
Wildest Dreams
Writing that is strictly true, realistic, and completely based on real-world facts rather than imaginary inventions [11, p. 18].
What is nonfiction (or narrative nonfiction)?
When shifting perspective from Mount Elgon to international travel, Preston uses a metaphor comparing the interconnected global routes of modern airlines to this predator's trapping structure [11, p. 22].
What is a web (or spider's web)?
The shocking discovery found preserved deep inside the stone crevices of the cave [11, p. 21].
What are mummified baby elephants (or elephant bones)?
Unlike Neil Gaiman's fictional killer Jack, Preston's "assassin" is a microscopic, non-living particle known as this [11, pp. 5, 20–21].
What is a virus (or pathogen / filovirus)?
Which famous country singer sings a song about a "White Horse" off of his recent 2023 album "Higher"? This artist is one of the most decorated country artists of all time. He typically wears a cowboy hat on stage and has long hair.