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Using MIS, 11e (Kroenke)
Chapter 1 The Importance of MIS
1) ________ states that the number of transistors per square inch on an integrated chip doubles
every 18 months.
A) Nielsen's Law
B) Faraday's Law
C) Moore's Law
D) Newton's Law
E) Metcalfe's Law
Answer: C
Diff: 1
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Discuss the key issues involved in managing the components of IT infrastructure
LO: 1.1: Why is introduction to MIS the most important class in the business school?
Classification: Concept
3) ________ states that network connection speeds for high-end users will increase by 50 percent
per year.
A) Nielsen's Law
B) Kryder's Law
C) Moore's Law
D) Bell's Law
E) Metcalfe's Law
Answer: A
Diff: 2
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Discuss the key issues involved in managing the components of IT infrastructure
LO: 1.1: Why is introduction to MIS the most important class in the business school?
1
Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Inc.
Classification: Concept
2
Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Inc.
4) Which of the following ratios has fallen as a result of Moore's Law?
A) price/performance
B) demand/supply
C) profit/loss
D) debt/equity
E) price/earnings
Answer: A
Diff: 1
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Discuss the key issues involved in managing the components of IT infrastructure
LO: 1.1: Why is introduction to MIS the most important class in the business school?
Classification: Concept
5) In 1972, computer scientist ________ recognized that digital devices would change the world
as they evolved and became widely used.
A) Gordon Bell
B) Robert Metcalfe
C) Gordon Moore
D) Jakob Nielsen
E) Sam Flynn
Answer: A
Diff: 1
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.1: Why is introduction to MIS the most important class in the business school?
Classification: Concept
6) ________ states that the value of a network is equal to the square of the number of users
connected to it.
A) Moore's Law
B) Metcalfe's Law
C) Bell's Law
D) Nielsen's Law
E) Flynn's Law
Answer: B
Diff: 1
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.1: Why is introduction to MIS the most important class in the business school?
Classification: Concept
3
Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Inc.
7) Google's Project Loon is a major effort to ________.
A) decrease the size of storage devices, while increasing their capacity
B) facilitate the use of Internet on submarines, while they are submerged
C) promote the use of virtual machines, that operate on voice command
D) bring Internet access to everyone using a network of inflated balloons
E) reduce the rate of decay in magnetic disks
Answer: D
Diff: 2
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.1: Why is introduction to MIS the most important class in the business school?
Classification: Concept
8) According to Bell's Law, ________ will evolve so quickly they will enable new platforms
every 10 years.
A) systems thinking
B) human interactions
C) digital devices
D) television
E) technology companies
Answer: C
Diff: 2
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Discuss the key issues involved in managing the components of IT infrastructure
LO: 1.1: Why is introduction to MIS the most important class in the business school?
Classification: Concept
4
Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Inc.
10) A primary metric for social media companies is ________.
A) revenue
B) the number of monthly active users
C) the number of ads shown to users
D) the total number of users
E) how much it costs the company to maintain social media connections
Answer: B
Diff: 1
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Discuss the key issues involved in managing the components of IT infrastructure
LO: 1.1: Why is introduction to MIS the most important class in the business school?
Classification: Concept
11) ________ states the storage density on magnetic disks is increasing at an exponential rate.
A) Nielsen's Law
B) Faraday's Law
C) Moore's Law
D) Kryder's Law
E) Metcalfe's Law
Answer: D
Diff: 1
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Discuss the key issues involved in managing the components of IT infrastructure
LO: 1.1: Why is introduction to MIS the most important class in the business school?
Classification: Concept
12) Despite the rapid growth of technology, digital devices fail to impact the industry.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 1
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.1: Why is introduction to MIS the most important class in the business school?
Classification: Concept
5
Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Inc.
14) The Information Age is a period in history where the production, distribution, and control of
information is the primary driver of the economy.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 1
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Discuss the key issues involved in managing the components of IT infrastructure
LO: 1.1: Why is introduction to MIS the most important class in the business school?
Classification: Concept
15) Bell's Law states that a new computer class forms roughly each decade establishing a new
industry.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 1
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Discuss the key issues involved in managing the components of IT infrastructure
LO: 1.1: Why is introduction to MIS the most important class in the business school?
Classification: Concept
16) The Digital Revolution was the conversion from mechanical and analog devices to digital
devices.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 2
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Explain how IS can be used to gain and sustain competitive advantage
LO: 1.1: Why is introduction to MIS the most important class in the business school?
Classification: Concept
17) Kryder's Law states that the storage density on magnetic disks is increasing at an exponential
rate.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 1
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Discuss the role of information systems in supporting business processes
LO: 1.1: Why is introduction to MIS the most important class in the business school?
Classification: Concept
6
Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Inc.
19) Discuss the Digital Revolution.
Answer: The Digital Revolution was the conversion from mechanical and analog devices to
digital devices. This shift to digital devices meant monumental changes for companies,
individuals, and the society as a whole. The problem was, people couldn't really understand how,
or even why, this shift was going to affect them. Much like people today, they based their future
projections on past events. They knew factories, bureaucracies, mass production, and operational
efficiency. But this knowledge didn't prepare them for the changes that were coming.
The Digital Revolution didn't just mean that new "digital" equipment was replacing old
mechanical, or analog, equipment. These new digital devices could now be connected to other
digital devices and share data among themselves. They could also work faster as processor speed
increased.
Diff: 2
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Discuss the role of information systems in supporting business processes
LO: 1.1: Why is introduction to MIS the most important class in the business school?
Classification: Concept
20) State Nielsen's Law. What is the implication of Nielsen's Law for managers?
Answer: According to Nielsen's Law, "network connection speeds for high-end users will
increase by 50 percent per year." Because of this law, the types of services and applications that
can be provided over networks (i.e. the Internet) have changed radically. Therefore, it is
important for managers to realize that, because of Nielsen's Law, networks will become faster,
new companies, new products, and new platforms will emerge.
Diff: 2
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.1: Why is introduction to MIS the most important class in the business school?
Classification: Concept
7
Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Inc.
22) Which of the following is categorized as a nonroutine cognitive skill?
A) symbolic thinking
B) marketing knowledge
C) tax accounting
D) systems thinking
E) data entry
Answer: D
Diff: 1
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Course LO: Explain how IS can be used to gain and sustain competitive advantage
LO: 1.2: How will MIS affect me?
Classification: Concept
8
Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Inc.
25) ________ is the ability to model the components of a system, to connect the inputs and
outputs among those components into a sensible whole that reflects the structure and dynamics
of the phenomenon observed.
A) Abstract reasoning
B) Systems thinking
C) Collaboration
D) Experimentation
E) Function modeling
Answer: B
Diff: 1
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Explain how IS can be used to gain and sustain competitive advantage
LO: 1.2: How will MIS affect me?
Classification: Concept
26) A manager will essentially require ________ skills to test ideas clearly on a small scale,
before taking bigger risks or committing significant resources to a larger project.
A) collaboration
B) experimentation
C) interpersonal
D) systems thinking
E) social
Answer: B
Diff: 2
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Course LO: Explain how IS can be used to gain and sustain competitive advantage
LO: 1.2: How will MIS affect me?
Classification: Concept
27) Lindsay is an analyst at a large power company. She creates a custom spreadsheet showing
how cold weather might affect the company's profitability. This shows her ________ skills.
A) abstract reasoning
B) experimentation
C) systems thinking
D) problem-solving
E) risk ordering
Answer: C
Diff: 2
AACSB: Reflective Thinking
Course LO: Explain how IS can be used to gain and sustain competitive advantage
LO: 1.2: How will MIS affect me?
Classification: Application
9
Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Inc.
28) After making minor changes to a team report, Jeff felt like he had done enough work on the
project. When he was asked to contribute more, he got offended and quit responding to requests
from some team members. Jeff's inability to receive critical feedback indicates a lack of
________ skills.
A) systems thinking
B) collaboration
C) abstract reasoning
D) experimentation
E) ideation
Answer: B
Diff: 3
AACSB: Reflective Thinking
Course LO: Explain how IS can be used to gain and sustain competitive advantage
LO: 1.2: How will MIS affect me?
Classification: Application
29) ________ is the activity of two or more people working together to achieve a common goal,
result, or work product.
A) Systems thinking
B) Abstract reasoning
C) Collaboration
D) Experimentation
E) Competition
Answer: C
Diff: 1
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Explain how IS can be used to gain and sustain competitive advantage
LO: 1.2: How will MIS affect me?
Classification: Concept
30) Cami is the marketing manager for a regional furniture maker. She closely monitors the
impact of each marketing campaign on overall sales. She routinely tries novel promotional offers
to reach first-time customers. Which of the following skills does Cami exhibit?
A) systems thinking
B) experimentation
C) abstract reasoning
D) collaboration
E) troubleshooting
Answer: B
Diff: 3
AACSB: Reflective Thinking
Course LO: Explain how IS can be used to gain and sustain competitive advantage
LO: 1.2: How will MIS affect me?
Classification: Application
10
Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Inc.
31) ________ is defined as making a reasoned analysis of an opportunity, envisioning potential
solutions, evaluating those possibilities, and developing the most promising ones, consistent with
the resources one has.
A) Troubleshooting
B) Abstract reasoning
C) Problem-solving
D) Experimentation
E) Cognition
Answer: D
Diff: 1
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Explain how IS can be used to gain and sustain competitive advantage
LO: 1.2: How will MIS affect me?
Classification: Concept
33) ________ is the single most important skill for effective collaboration.
A) Being nice
B) Experimentation
C) Being able to connect the inputs with the outputs
D) Giving and receiving feedback
E) Fearlessness
Answer: D
Diff: 2
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Course LO: Explain how IS can be used to gain and sustain competitive advantage
LO: 1.2: How will MIS affect me?
Classification: Concept
11
Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Inc.
34) The mismatch between the high level of tech skills demanded by employers and the low
level of tech skills held by employees is called ________.
A) the technology skills gap
B) the digital divide
C) under demand training
D) systems thinking
E) social re-engineering.
Answer: A
Diff: 1
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Course LO: Explain how IS can be used to gain and sustain competitive advantage
LO: 1.2: How will MIS affect me?
Classification: Concept
35) Bryce, a floor manager at an industrial plant, works well with all of his line employees.
Bryce's ability to collaborate is a routine skill.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 2
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Course LO: Explain how IS can be used to gain and sustain competitive advantage
LO: 1.2: How will MIS affect me?
Classification: Application
36) A person's strong abstract reasoning skills won't be able to easily construct models.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 1
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Course LO: Explain how IS can be used to gain and sustain competitive advantage
LO: 1.2: How will MIS affect me?
Classification: Concept
37) According to The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the demand for information systems and
business jobs are low and future wage growth appears stagnant.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 1
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Course LO: Explain how IS can be used to gain and sustain competitive advantage
LO: 1.2: How will MIS affect me?
Classification: Concept
12
Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Inc.
38) What job prospects are available for professionals who know how to use information systems
(ISs)?
Answer: Information systems and computer technology provide job and wage benefits beyond
just IS professionals. As the price of computer technology plummets, the value of jobs that
benefit from it increases dramatically. For example, plentiful, high-paying jobs are available to
business professionals who know how to use information systems to improve business process
quality, or those who know how to interpret data mining results for improved marketing, or those
who know how to use emerging technology like 3D printing to create new products and address
new markets.
Diff: 3
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Explain how IS can be used to gain and sustain competitive advantage
LO: 1.2: How will MIS affect me?
Classification: Concept
39) Explain the four nonroutine cognitive skills that are key to a successful career today.
Answer: The four nonroutine cognitive skills identified as critical for organizations in the
current scenario are as follows:
(1) Abstract reasoning–the ability to make and manipulate models.
(2) Systems thinking–the ability to model the components of a system, to connect the inputs and
outputs among those components into a sensible whole that reflects the structure and dynamics
of the phenomenon observed.
(3) Collaboration–the activity of two or more people working together to achieve a common
goal, result, or work product.
(4) Ability to experiment–making a reasoned analysis of an opportunity, envisioning potential
solutions, evaluating those possibilities, and developing the most promising ones, consistent with
the resources you have.
Diff: 3
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Explain how IS can be used to gain and sustain competitive advantage
LO: 1.2: How will MIS affect me?
Classification: Concept
40) Why does the author feel this course is the most important course in the business school?
Answer: 1. It will give you the background you need to assess, evaluate, and apply emerging
information systems technology to business.
2. It can give you the ultimate in job security–marketable skills–by helping you learn abstraction,
systems thinking, collaboration, and experimentation.
3. Many well-paid MIS-related jobs are in high demand.
Diff: 2
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Course LO: Explain how IS can be used to gain and sustain competitive advantage
LO: 1.2: How will MIS affect me?
Classification: Concept
13
Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Inc.
41) Which of the following is an example of computer hardware?
A) a monitor
B) a browser
C) a spreadsheet
D) an operating system
E) a variable
Answer: A
Diff: 1
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.3: What is MIS?
Classification: Concept
42) The storage disks in a computer are an example of the ________ component of information
systems.
A) hardware
B) software
C) intangible
D) virtual
E) bootable
Answer: A
Diff: 1
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.3: What is MIS?
Classification: Concept
43) An operating system like Windows or Linux is an example of the ________ component of an
information system.
A) software
B) hardware
C) tangible
D) physical
E) virtual
Answer: A
Diff: 2
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.3: What is MIS?
Classification: Application
14
Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Inc.
44) The method used to start a program is part of the ________ component in the five-
component framework.
A) hardware
B) software
C) people
D) procedures
E) data
Answer: D
Diff: 2
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.3: What is MIS?
Classification: Application
45) Even if you are not a programmer or a database designer, you still should take a(n) ________
in the systems development process.
A) interest
B) active role
C) positive outlook
D) your opinion
E) matter of fact attitude
Answer: B
Diff: 2
AACSB: Information Technology; Analytical Thinking
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.3: What is MIS?
Classification: Application
46) Zach follows the instructions that show him how to create a custom Web site in his school's
learning management system. These steps that he follows are examples of the ________
component of an information system.
A) procedure
B) data
C) software
D) hardware
E) memory
Answer: A
Diff: 3
AACSB: Information Technology; Reflective Thinking
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.3: What is MIS?
Classification: Application
15
Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Inc.
47) Noel creates a table listing the number of students in his biology class, their names, age, and
phone numbers. His table is an example of the ________ component of an information system.
A) program
B) data
C) information
D) hardware
E) process
Answer: B
Diff: 2
AACSB: Reflective Thinking
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.3: What is MIS?
Classification: Application
49) Which of the following statements is TRUE of business users who administer the
development of information systems?
A) It is mandatory that they hold a degree in database management.
B) They should take an active role in the system's development.
C) They should refrain from specifying the system's requirements.
D) When the system fails, they must refrain from performing tasks related to system recovery.
E) They are skilled programmers.
Answer: B
Diff: 2
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Discuss the role of information systems in supporting business processes
LO: 1.3: What is MIS?
Classification: Concept
16
Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Inc.
50) As a business professional, what is one of the reasons you should be involved in information
systems (IS) development?
A) Information technology professionals know exactly what the business needs.
B) To understand the business requirements.
C) Because you are in upper management and must decide all of the information technology
requirements.
D) You do not have to be involved.
E) You have to know what to do in case the system fails.
Answer: B
Diff: 2
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.3: What is MIS?
Classification: Concept
51) All of the following are examples of ancillary functions you may be asked to do in your
department as a user of information systems (IS) except: ________.
A) Create a database
B) Protect the security of the system
C) Back up data
D) Perform tasks while the system is down.
E) Employ the system
Answer: A
Diff: 2
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.3: What is MIS?
Classification: Concept
52) According to the five-component framework, the five components of an information system
are present in every information system.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 1
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.3: What is MIS?
Classification: Concept
53) The five-component framework applies to simple and complex information systems.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 1
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.3: What is MIS?
Classification: Concept
17
Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Inc.
54) Information systems exist to help people who work in an organization to achieve the
strategies of that business.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 1
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Explain how IS can be used to gain and sustain competitive advantage
LO: 1.3: What is MIS?
Classification: Concept
55) Social networking has all the components in the Five-component framework.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 1
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.3: What is MIS?
Classification: Concept
56) Information systems are created for the sheer joy of exploring new technologies.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 1
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.3: What is MIS?
Classification: Concept
57) Define the terms system, information system, and management information system.
Answer: A system is a group of components that interact to achieve some purpose. An
information system (IS) is a group of components that interact to produce information. A
management information system is defined as a system that helps organizations achieve their
strategies.
Diff: 2
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.3: What is MIS?
Classification: Concept
18
Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Inc.
58) List and briefly explain the five-component model of an information system with examples.
Answer: The five components described in the model are: computer hardware, software, data,
procedures, and people. These five components are present in every information system, from
the simplest to the most complex. For example, when one uses a computer to write a class report,
he/she is using hardware (the computer, storage disk, keyboard, and monitor), software (Word,
WordPerfect, or some other word-processing program), data (the words, sentences, and
paragraphs in the report), procedures (the methods used to start the program, enter the report,
print it, and save and back up the file), and people (the user).
Diff: 3
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.3: What is MIS?
Classification: Concept
60) What is the difference between information systems (IS) and information technology (IT)?
Answer: An information system (IS) is an assembly of hardware, software, data, procedures,
and people that produces information. In contrast, information technology (IT) refers to the
products, methods, inventions, and standards used for the purpose of producing information.
Diff: 2
AACSB: Information Technology; Reflective Thinking
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.3: What is MIS?
Classification: Application
61) According to the five-component model of information systems, the ________ component
provides instructions for the people who use information systems.
A) software
B) data
C) hardware
D) procedure
E) storage
Answer: D
Diff: 1
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.4: How can you use the five-component model?
Classification: Concept
19
Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Inc.
62) In the five-component model, the process of automation is a process of moving work from
________.
A) processes to procedures
B) procedures to people
C) the digital mode to the analog mode
D) the human side to the computer side
E) processing to storage
Answer: D
Diff: 1
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.4: How can you use the five-component model?
Classification: Concept
63) In the five-component model of information systems, which of the following components is
considered an actor?
A) software
B) hardware
C) data
D) procedure
E) information
Answer: B
Diff: 1
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.4: How can you use the five-component model?
Classification: Concept
64) The hardware components of an information system will act as a(n) ________.
A) bridge between the computer side and the human side
B) actor on the human side
C) instruction on the computer side
D) actor on the computer side
E) functional anchor on the human side
Answer: D
Diff: 2
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.4: How can you use the five-component model?
Classification: Concept
20
Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Inc.
65) BigBank uses a custom customer management system to manage all of its interactions with
retail clients. This system is an ________ of the company's information system.
A) instruction on the computer side
B) actor on the human side
C) instruction on the human side
D) actor on the computer side
E) instruction for the hardware
Answer: A
Diff: 1
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.4: How can you use the five-component model?
Classification: Application
66) The ________ component in the five-component model of information systems is considered
a bridge that connects the computer side and the human side.
A) software
B) procedure
C) data
D) hardware
E) virtual
Answer: C
Diff: 1
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.4: How can you use the five-component model?
Classification: Concept
67) Which of the following pairs of components constitutes the computer side of information
systems?
A) software and data
B) data and hardware
C) people and procedures
D) hardware and software
E) data and memory
Answer: D
Diff: 1
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.4: How can you use the five-component model?
Classification: Concept
21
Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Inc.
68) Which of the following pairs of components constitutes the human side of information
systems?
A) software and procedures
B) software and people
C) people and procedures
D) hardware and people
E) instructions and code
Answer: C
Diff: 1
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.4: How can you use the five-component model?
Classification: Concept
70) Which of the following components of an information system is the easiest to change and
results in the least amount of organizational disruption?
A) hardware
B) software
C) database
D) procedures
E) protocols
Answer: A
Diff: 2
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Discuss the key issues involved in managing the components of IT infrastructure
LO: 1.4: How can you use the five-component model?
Classification: Concept
22
Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Inc.
71) Drudgen Fitness Inc. is a fitness equipment provider that markets its products through a
chain of retail outlets in four states. As part of its expansion strategy, the company decides to
open outlets in four more states and decides to revise its existing business processes. According
to the five-component model of information systems, which of the following processes will be
the least disruptive to the organization?
A) collecting demographic data from the new markets
B) developing new CRM software for the existing and new outlets
C) relocating existing employees and hiring new employees
D) buying and installing new computers in the new outlets
E) changing the sales, reporting, and compensation procedures
Answer: D
Diff: 3
AACSB: Information Technology; Reflective Thinking
Course LO: Discuss the key issues involved in managing the components of IT infrastructure
LO: 1.4: How can you use the five-component model?
Classification: Application
72) Which of the following would be the most disruptive to an organization when implementing
an information system?
A) installing new hardware components
B) creating new databases
C) developing new programs
D) changing reporting relationships
E) setting up online data backups
Answer: D
Diff: 2
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Discuss the key issues involved in managing the components of IT infrastructure
LO: 1.4: How can you use the five-component model?
Classification: Concept
73) It is generally more difficult to make changes to the ________ of an information system than
to the database itself.
A) software
B) hardware
C) programs
D) procedures
E) memory
Answer: D
Diff: 2
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Discuss the key issues involved in managing the components of IT infrastructure
LO: 1.4: How can you use the five-component model?
Classification: Concept
23
Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Inc.
74) A large retailer loses millions of customer records in a major data breach. They must develop
and implement a new system which includes new hardware, applications, and storage. Which of
the following actions will be most difficult to perform when implementing the new information
system?
A) upgrading the computer systems used by the retail chain
B) writing the programs to create the software
C) changing the structure of existing databases that reflect supplier and customer data
D) training the employees to use and manage the new system
E) installing new transaction processing hardware
Answer: D
Diff: 3
AACSB: Reflective Thinking
Course LO: Discuss the key issues involved in managing the components of IT infrastructure
LO: 1.4: How can you use the five-component model?
Classification: Application
75) You cannot increase your basic IQ, but you can increase the quality of your ________.
A) thinking
B) procedures
C) life
D) habits
E) IS system
Answer: A
Diff: 2
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Discuss the key issues involved in managing the components of IT infrastructure
LO: 1.4: How can you use the five-component model?
Classification: Concept
76) The five-component framework can be used when assessing the scope of ________.
A) new systems
B) hiring new people
C) life
D) habits
E) organization disruption
Answer: A
Diff: 2
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Discuss the key issues involved in managing the components of IT infrastructure
LO: 1.4: How can you use the five-component model?
Classification: Concept
24
Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Inc.
77) According to the five-component model of information systems, the data and software
components of information systems are capable of performing actions.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 2
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.4: How can you use the five-component model?
Classification: Concept
78) In the five-component model of an information system, data is the bridge between the
computer and the human sides.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 1
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.4: How can you use the five-component model?
Classification: Concept
79) In the five-component model of an information system, hardware and software are part of the
human side.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 1
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.4: How can you use the five-component model?
Classification: Concept
80) According to the five-component model of an information system, software is the most
important component of an information system.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 1
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.4: How can you use the five-component model?
Classification: Concept
81) The lower the amount of work to be moved from the human side to the computer side of an
information system, the higher is the complexity of that system.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 2
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Discuss the role of information systems in supporting business processes
LO: 1.4: How can you use the five-component model?
Classification: Concept
25
Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Inc.
82) Obtaining or developing new programs is more difficult than ordering additional hardware.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 2
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Discuss the key issues involved in managing the components of IT infrastructure
LO: 1.4: How can you use the five-component model?
Classification: Concept
84) Changing the structure of existing databases causes more organizational disruption than
changing working procedures.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 2
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Discuss the key issues involved in managing the components of IT infrastructure
LO: 1.4: How can you use the five-component model?
Classification: Concept
85) Ordering additional hardware creates the least amount of organizational disruption compared
to changes in the four components of an information system.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 2
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.4: How can you use the five-component model?
Classification: Concept
26
Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Inc.
87) Which is the most important component of an information system? Why?
Answer: People are part of every information system that they use. The user's mind and
thinking are not merely a component of the information systems they use; they are the most
important component. This is so because, even if users have the perfect information system, if
they do not know what to do with the data that it produces, they are wasting both their time and
money. The quality of users' thinking is what determines the quality of the information that is
produced.
Diff: 2
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.4: How can you use the five-component model?
Classification: Concept
88) Explain how the five components of an information system are arranged in terms of ease of
change and organizational disruption.
Answer: The five components of the information systems framework are: computer hardware,
software, data, procedures, and people. The five components are arranged in order of ease of
change and the amount of organizational disruption. It is usually a simple matter to order new
hardware and install it. Obtaining or developing new programs is more difficult. Creating new
databases or changing the structure of existing databases is still more difficult. Changing
procedures, requiring people to work in new ways, is even more difficult. Finally, changing
personnel responsibilities and reporting relationships and hiring and terminating employees are
both very difficult and very disruptive to an organization.
Diff: 2
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.4: How can you use the five-component model?
Classification: Concept
89) Which of the following is considered as information rather than mere data?
A) a list of property prices in a neighborhood
B) the return on investment of an advertising campaign
C) the total number of students in a school
D) the price of a company's shares on a given day
E) the weight of a car
Answer: B
Diff: 2
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.5: What is information?
Classification: Concept
27
Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Inc.
90) Which of the following is a common description of information?
A) collection of unprocessed data
B) unbiased, unrelated data
C) knowledge derived from data
D) list of recorded facts or figures
E) an array of related variables
Answer: C
Diff: 1
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.5: What is information?
Classification: Concept
92) Which of the following terms is described as processed data or data presented in a
meaningful context?
A) questionnaires
B) scenarios
C) illustrations
D) information
E) forms
Answer: D
Diff: 1
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.5: What is information?
Classification: Application
28
Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Inc.
93) ________ skills determine the ability to conceive information from data.
A) Cognitive
B) Abstract reasoning
C) Symbolic thinking
D) Experimentation
E) Spatial
Answer: A
Diff: 2
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.5: What is information?
Classification: Concept
94) A furniture manufacturer keeps details of its current inventory including weight, quantity,
and price. These details can be called ________.
A) an analysis
B) data
C) information
D) an assessment
E) knowledge
Answer: B
Diff: 2
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.5: What is information?
Classification: Application
95) Silway Travels organizes tours to a number of cities in Illinois. The manager of the company
examines a spreadsheet which is an annual record of airfares to different cities from Chicago.
The contents of the spreadsheet will be used to determine the difference in peak season and off-
season airfares. The spreadsheet, in this case, represents ________.
A) a survey
B) data
C) information
D) an analysis
E) a system
Answer: B
Diff: 3
AACSB: Reflective Thinking
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.5: What is information?
Classification: Application
29
Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Inc.
96) Data becomes information when it is presented in a meaningful context.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 1
AACSB: Information Technology
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.5: What is information?
Classification: Concept
97) The statement that the average computer network architect makes $98,430, is information.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 2
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.5: What is information?
Classification: Application
98) Because you can determine if a graph is useful information further proves that you are the
most important part of the five-component model.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 1
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Course LO: Describe the components of an information system (IS)
LO: 1.5: What is information?
Classification: Application
30
Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Inc.
Random documents with unrelated
content Scribd suggests to you:
The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Wind
People
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and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
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under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
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you are located before using this eBook.
Language: English
Robin was two years old when he first heard the voices in the wind.
He pulled at his mother's arm and crooned softly, in imitation.
"What is it, lovey?"
"Pretty." He crooned again to the distant murmuring sound.
Helen smiled vaguely and patted the round cheek. Robin, his infant
imagination suddenly distracted, said, "Hungry. Robin hungry.
Berries."
"Berries after you eat," Helen promised absently, and picked him up.
Robin tugged at her arm.
"Mommy pretty, too!"
She laughed, a rosy and smiling young Diana. She was happy on the
solitary planet; they lived quite comfortably in one of the larger
shacks, and only a little frown-line between her eyes bore witness to
the terror which had closed down on her in the first months, when
every new day had been some new struggle—against weakness,
against unfamiliar sounds, against loneliness and dread. Nights when
she lay wakeful, sweating with terror while the winds rose and fell
again and her imagination gave them voices, bleak days when she
wandered dazedly around the shack or stared moodily at Robin.
There had been moments—only fleeting, and penanced with hours
of shame and regret—when she thought that even the horror of
losing Robin in those first days would have been less than the horror
of spending the rest of her life alone here; when she had wondered
why Merrihew had not realized that she was unbalanced, and forced
her to go with them ... by now, Robin would have been only a
moment's painful memory.
Still not strong, knowing she had to be strong for Robin or he would
die as surely as if she had abandoned him, she had spent the first
months in a somnambulistic dream. Sometimes she had walked for
days at a time in that dream; she would wake to find food that she
could not remember gathering. Somehow, pervasive, the dream-
voices had taken over; the whispering winds had been full of voices
and even hands.
She had fallen ill and lain for days sick and delirious, and had heard
a voice which hardly seemed to be her own, saying that if she died
the wind voices would care for Robin ... and then the shock and
irrationality of that had startled her out of delirium, agonized and
trembling, and she pulled herself upright and cried out "No!"
And the shimmer of eyes and voices had faded again into vague
echoes, until there was only the stir of sunlight on the leaves, and
Robin, chubby and naked, kicking in the sunlight, cooing with his
hands outstretched to the rustle of leaves and shadows.
She had known, then, that she had to get well. She had never heard
the wind voices again, and her crisp, scientific mind rejected the
fanciful theory that if she only believed in the wind voices she would
see their forms and hear their words clearly. And she rejected them
so thoroughly that when she heard them speak she shut them away
from her mind, and after a time heard them no longer, except in
restless dreams.
By now she had accepted the isolation and the beauty of their world,
and begun to make a happy life for Robin.
For lack of other occupation last summer—though the winter was
mild and there was no lack of fruits and roots even then—Helen had
patiently snared male and female of small animals like rabbits, and
now she had a pen of them. They provided a change of diet, and
after a few smelly unsuccessful experiments she had devised a way
to supple their fur pelts. She made no effort at gardening, though
when Robin was older she might try that. For the moment, it was
enough that they were healthy and safe and protected.
... Robin was listening again. Helen bent her ear, sharpened by the
silence, but heard only the rustle of wind and leaves; saw only falling
brightness along a silvered tree-trunk.
Wind? When there were no branches stirring?
"Ridiculous," she said sharply, then snatched up the baby boy and
squeezed him before hoisting him astride her hip. "Mommy doesn't
mean you, Robin. Let's look for berries."
But soon she realized that his head was tipped back and that he was
listening, again, to some sound she could not hear.
On what she said was Robin's fifth birthday, Helen had made a
special bed for him in another room of the building. He missed the
warmth of Helen's body, and the comforting sound of her breathing;
for Robin, since birth, had been a wakeful child.
Yet, on the first night alone, Robin felt curiously freed. He did
something he had never dared do before, for fear of waking Helen;
he slipped from his bed and stood in the doorway, looking into the
forest.
The forest was closer to the doorway now; Robin could fuzzily
remember when the clearing had been wider. Now, slowly, beyond
the garden patch which Helen kept cleared, the underbrush and
saplings were growing back, and even what Robin called "the burned
place" was covered with new sparse grass.
Robin was accustomed to being alone, during the day—even in his
first year, Helen had had to leave him alone, securely fastened in the
house, or inside a little tight-fenced yard. But he was not used to
being alone at night.
Far off in the forest, he could hear the whispers of the other people.
Helen said there were no other people, but Robin knew better,
because he could hear their voices on the wind, like fragments of
the songs Helen sang at bedtime. And sometimes he could almost
see them in the shadowy spots.
Once when Helen had been sick, a long time ago, and Robin had run
helplessly from the fenced yard to the inside room and back again,
hungry and dirty and furious because Helen only slept on the bed
with her eyes closed, rousing up now and then to whimper like he
did when he fell down and skinned his knee, the winds and voices
had come into the very house; Robin had hazy memories of soothing
voices, of hands that touched him more softly than Helen's hands.
But he could not quite remember.
Now that he could hear them so clearly, he would go and find the
other people. And then if Helen was sick again, there would be
someone else to play with him and look after him. He thought
gleefully, won't Helen be surprised, and darted off across the
clearing.
When Robin was fourteen years old, Helen told him the story of his
birth, and of the ship.
He was a tall, silent boy, strong and hardy but not talkative; he
heard the story almost in silence, and looked at Helen for a long
time in silence, afterward. He finally said in a whisper, "You could
have died—you gave up a lot for me, Helen, didn't you?" He knelt
and took her face in his hands. She smiled, and drew a little away
from him.
"Why are you looking at me like that, Robin?"
The boy could not put instant words to his thoughts; emotions were
not in his vocabulary. Helen had taught him everything she knew,
but she had always concealed her feelings from her son. He asked at
last, "Why didn't my father stay with you?"
"I don't suppose it entered his head," Helen said. "He was needed
on the ship. Losing me was bad enough."
Robin said passionately, "I'd have stayed!"
The woman found herself laughing. "Well—you did stay, Robin."
He asked, "Am I like my father?"
Helen looked gravely at her son, trying to see the half-forgotten
features of young Reynolds in the boy's face. No, Robin did not look
like Colin Reynolds, nor like Helen herself. She picked up his hand in
hers; despite his robust health, Robin never tanned; his skin was
pearly pale, so that in the green sunlight it blended into the forest
almost invisibly. His hand lay in Helen's palm like a shadow. She said
at last, "No, nothing like him. But under this sun, that's to be
expected."
Robin said confidently, "I'm like the other people."
"The ones on the ship? They—"
"No," Robin interrupted, "you always said, when I was older you'd
tell me about the other people. I mean the other people here. The
ones in the woods. The ones you can't see."
Helen stared at the boy in blank disbelief. "What do you mean?
There are no other people, just us." Then she recalled that every
imaginative child invents playmates. Alone, she thought, Robin's
always alone, no other children, no wonder he's a little—strange.
She said, quietly, "You dreamed it, Robin."
The boy only stared at her, in bleak, blank alienation. "You mean,"
he said, "you can't hear them either?" He got up and walked out of
the hut. Helen called, but he didn't turn back. She ran after him,
catching at his arm, stopping him almost by force. She whispered,
"Robin, Robin, tell me what you mean! There isn't anyone here.
Once or twice I thought I had seen—something, by moonlight, only
it was a dream. Please, Robin—please—"
"If it's only a dream, why are you frightened?" Robin asked, through
a curious constriction in his throat. "If they've never hurt you—"
No, they had never hurt her. Even if, in her long-ago dream, one of
them had come to her—and the sons of God saw the daughters of
men that they were fair—a scrap of memory from a vanished life on
another world sang in Helen's thoughts. She looked up at the pale,
impatient face of her son, and swallowed hard.
Her voice was husky when she spoke.
"Did I ever tell you about rationalization—when you want something
to be true so much that you can make it sound right to yourself?"
"Couldn't that also happen to something you wanted not to be true?"
Robin retorted with a mutinous curl of his mouth.
Helen would not let go his arm. She begged, "Robin—no, you'll only
waste your life and break your heart looking for something that
doesn't exist—"
The boy looked down into her shaken face, and suddenly a new
emotion welled up in him and he dropped to his knees beside her
and buried his face against her breast. He whispered, "Helen, I'll
never leave you, I'll never do anything you don't want me to do, I
don't want anyone but you—"
And for the first time in many years, Helen broke into wild and
uncontrollable crying, without knowing why she wept.
Robin did not speak again of his quest in the forest. For many
months he was quiet and subdued, staying near the clearing,
hovering near Helen for days at a time, then disappearing into the
forest at dusk. He heard the winds numbly, deaf to their promise and
their call.
Helen too was quiet and withdrawn, feeling Robin's alienation
through his submissive mood. She found herself speaking to him
sharply for being always under foot; yet, on the rare days when he
vanished into the forest and did not return until after sunset, she felt
a restless unease that set her wandering the paths herself, not
following him, but simply uneasy unless she knew he was within call.
Once, in the shadows just before sunset, she thought she saw a
man moving through the trees, and for an instant, as he turned
toward her, she saw that he was naked. She had seen him only for a
second or two, and after he had slipped between the shadows again,
common sense told her it was Robin. She was vaguely shocked and
annoyed; she firmly intended to speak to him, perhaps to scold him
for running about naked and slipping away like that; then, in a sort
of remote embarrassment, she fore-bore to mention it. But after
that, she kept out of the forest.
Robin had been vaguely aware of her surveillance and knew when it
ceased. But he did not give up his own pointless rambles, although
even to himself he no longer spoke of searching, or of any dreamlike
inhabitants of the woods. At times it still seemed that some shadow
concealed a half-seen form, and the distant murmur grew into a
voice that mocked him; a white arm, the shadow of a face, until he
lifted his head and stared straight at it.
One evening toward twilight he saw a sudden shimmer in the trees,
and he stood, fixedly, as the stray glint resolved itself first into a
white face with shadowy eyes, then into a translucent flicker of bare
arms, and then into the form of a woman, arrested for an instant
with her hand on the bole of a tree. In the shadowy spot, filled only
with the last ray of a cloudy sunset, she was very clear; not cloudy
or unreal, but so distinct that he could see even a small smudge or
bramble-scratch on her shoulder, and a fallen leaf tangled in her
colorless hair. Robin, paralyzed, watched her pause, and turn, and
smile, and then she melted into the shadows.
He stood with his heart pounding for a second after she had gone;
then whirled, bursting with the excitement of his discovery, and ran
down the path toward home. Suddenly he stopped short, the world
tilting and reeling, and fell on his face in a bed of dry leaves.
He was still ignorant of the nature of the emotion in him. He felt only
intolerable misery and the conviction that he must never, never
speak to Helen of what he had seen or felt.
He lay there, his burning face pressed into the leaves, unaware of
the rising wind, the little flurry of blown leaves, the growing
darkness and distant thunder. At last an icy spatter of rain aroused
him, and cold, numbed, he made his way slowly homeward. Over his
head the boughs creaked woodenly, and Robin, under the driving
whips of the rain, felt their tumult only echoed his own voiceless
agony.
He was drenched by the time he pushed the door of the shack open,
and stumbled blindly toward the fire, only hoping that Helen would
be sleeping. But she started up from beside the hearth they had
built together last summer.
"Robin?"
Deathly weary, the boy snapped, "Who else would it be?"
Helen didn't answer. She came to him, a small swift-moving figure in
the firelight, and drew him into the warmth. She said, almost
humbly, "I was afraid—the storm—Robin, you're all wet, come to the
fire and dry out."
Robin yielded, his twitching nerves partly soothed by her voice. How
tiny Helen is, he thought, and I can remember that she used to carry
me around on one arm. Now she hardly comes to my shoulder. She
brought him food and he ate wolfishly, listening to the steady
pouring rain, uncomfortable under Helen's watching eyes. Before his
own eyes there was the clear memory of the woman in the wood,
and so vivid was Robin's imagination, heightened by loneliness and
undiluted by any random impressions, that it seemed to him Helen
must see her too. And when she came to stand beside him, the
picture grew so keen in his thoughts that he actually pulled himself
free of her.
The next day dawned gray and still, beaten with long needles of
rain. They stayed indoors by the smoldering fire; Robin, half sick and
feverish from his drenching, sprawled by the hearth too indolent to
move, watching Helen's comings and goings about the room; not
realizing why the sight of her slight, quick form against the gray light
filled him with such pain and melancholy.
The storm lasted four days. Helen exhausted her household tasks
and sat restlessly thumbing through the few books she knew by
heart—they had allowed her to remove all her personal possessions,
all the things she had chosen on a forgotten and faraway Earth for a
ten-year star-cruise. For the first time in years, Helen was thinking
again of the life, the civilization she had thrown away, for Robin who
had been a pink scrap in the circle of her arm and now lay sullen on
the hearth, not speaking, aimlessly whittling a stick with the knife
(found discarded in a heap of rubbish from the Starholm) which was
his dearest possession. Helen felt slow horror closing in on her. What
world, what heritage did I give him, in my madness? This world has
driven us both insane. Robin and I are both a little mad, by Earth's
standards. And when I die, and I will die first, what then? At that
moment Helen would have given her life to believe in his old dream
of strange people in the wood.
She flung her book restlessly away, and Robin, as if waiting for that
signal, sat upright and said almost eagerly, "Helen—"
Grateful that he had broken the silence of days, she gave him an
encouraging smile.
"I've been reading your books," he began, diffidently, "and I read
about the sun you came from. It's different from this one. Suppose—
suppose, if there were actually a kind of people here, and something
in this light, or in your eyes, made them invisible to you?"
Helen said, "Have you been seeing them again?"
He flinched at her ironical tone, and she asked, somewhat more
gently, "It's a theory, Robin, but it wouldn't explain, then, why you
see them."
"Maybe I'm—more used to this light," he said gropingly. "—And
anyway, you said you thought you'd seen them and thought it was
only a dream."
Halfway between exasperation and a deep pity, Helen found herself
arguing, "If these other people of yours really exist, why haven't
they made themselves known in sixteen years?"
The eagerness with which he answered was almost frightening. "I
think they only come out at night, they're what your book calls a
primitive civilization—" He spoke the words he had read, but never
heard, with an odd hesitation. "They're not really a civilization at all,
I think, they're like—part of the woods."
"A forest people," Helen mused, impressed in spite of herself, "and
nocturnal. It's always moonlight or dusky when you see them—"
"Then you do believe me—oh, Helen," Robin cried, and suddenly
found himself pouring out the story of what he had seen, in
incoherent words, concluding "—and by daylight I can hear them,
but I can't see them—Helen, Helen, you have to believe it now,
you'll have to let me try to find them and learn to talk to them—"
Helen listened with a sinking heart. She knew they should not
discuss it now, when five days of enforced housebound proximity
had set their nerves and tempers on edge, but some unknown
tension hurled her sharp words at Robin. "You saw a woman, and I
—a man. These things are only dreams. Do I have to explain more
to you?"
Robin flung his knife sullenly aside. "You're so blind, so stubborn—"
"I think you are feverish again." Helen rose to go.
He said wrathfully, "You treat me like a child!"
"Because you act like one, with your fairy tales of women in the
wind...."
Suddenly Robin's agony overflowed and he caught at her, holding
her around the knees, clinging to her as he had not done since he
was a small child, his words stumbling and rushing over one another.
"Helen, Helen darling, don't be angry with me," he begged, and
caught her in a blind embrace that pulled her off her feet. She had
never guessed how strong he was; but he seemed very like a little
boy, and she hugged him quickly as he began to cover her face with
childish kisses.
"Don't cry, Robin, my baby, it's all right," she murmured, kneeling
close to him. Gradually the wildness of his passionate crying abated;
she touched his forehead with her cheek to see if it were heated
with fever, and he reached up and held her there. Helen let him lie
against her shoulder, feeling that perhaps after the violence of his
outburst he would fall asleep, and she was half asleep herself when
a sudden shock of realization darted through her; quickly she tried
to free herself from Robin's entangling arms.
"Robin, let me go."
He clung to her, not understanding. "Don't let go of me, Helen.
Darling, stay here beside me," he begged, and pressed a kiss into
her throat.
Helen, her blood icing over, realized that unless she freed herself
very quickly now, she would be fighting against a strong, aroused
young man not clearly aware of what he was doing. She took refuge
in the sharp maternal note of ten years ago, almost vanished in the
closer, more equal companionship of the time between:
"No, Robin. Stop it, at once, do you hear?"
Automatically he let her go, and she rolled quickly away, out of his
reach, and got to her feet. Robin, too intelligent to be unaware of
her anger and too naive to know its cause, suddenly dropped his
head and wept, wholly unstrung. "Why are you angry?" he blurted
out. "I was only loving you."
And at the phrase of the five-year-old child, Helen felt her throat
would burst with its ache. She managed to choke out, "I'm not
angry, Robin—we'll talk about this later, I promise—" and then, her
own control vanishing, turned and fled precipitately into the pouring
rain.
She plunged through the familiar woods for a long time, in a daze of
unthinking misery. She did not even fully realize that she was
sobbing and muttering aloud, "No, no, no, no—"
She must have wandered for several hours. The rain had stopped
and the darkness was lifting before she began to grow calmer and to
think more clearly.
She had been blind, not to foresee this day when Robin was a child;
only if her child had been a daughter could it have been avoided. Or
—she was shocked at the hysterical sound of her own laughter—if
Colin had stayed and they had raised a family like Adam and Eve!
But what now? Robin was sixteen; she was not yet forty. Helen
caught at vanishing memories of society; taboos so deeply rooted
that for Helen they were instinctual and impregnable. Yet for Robin
nothing existed except this little patch of forest and Helen herself—
the only person in his world, more specifically at the moment the
only woman in his world. So much, she thought bitterly, for instinct.
But have I the right to begin this all over again? Worse; have I the
right to deny its existence and when I die, leave Robin alone?
She had stumbled and paused for breath, realizing that she had
wandered in circles and that she was at a familiar point on the river
bank which she had avoided for sixteen years. On the heels of this
realization she became aware that for only the second time in
memory, the winds were wholly stilled.
Her eyes, swollen with crying, ached as she tried to pierce the gloom
of the mist, lilac-tinted with the approaching sunrise, which hung
around the water. Through the dispersing mist she made out, dimly,
the form of a man.
He was tall, and his pale skin shone with misty white colors. Helen
sat frozen, her mouth open, and for the space of several seconds he
looked down at her without moving. His eyes, dark splashes in the
pale face, had an air of infinite sadness and compassion, and she
thought his lips moved in speech, but she heard only a thin familiar
rustle of wind.
Behind him, mere flickers, she seemed to make out the ghosts of
other faces, tips of fingers of invisible hands, eyes, the outline of a
woman's breast, the curve of a child's foot. For a minute, in Helen's
weary numbed state, all her defenses went down and she thought:
Then I'm not mad and it wasn't a dream and Robin isn't Reynolds'
son at all. His father was this—one of these—and they've been
watching me and Robin, Robin has seen them, he doesn't know he's
one of them, but they know. They know and I've kept Robin from
them all these sixteen years.
The man took two steps toward her, the translucent body shifting to
a dozen colors before her blurred eyes. His face had a curious
familiarity—familiarity—and in a sudden spasm of terror Helen
thought, "I'm going mad, it's Robin, it's Robin—"
His hand was actually outstretched to touch her when her scream
cut icy lashes through the forest, stirring wild echoes in the wind-
voices, and she whirled and ran blindly toward the treacherous,
crumbling bank. Behind her came steps, a voice, a cry—Robin, the
strange dryad-man, she could not guess. The horror of incest, the
son the father the lover suddenly melting into one, overwhelmed her
reeling brain and she fled insanely to the brink. She felt a masculine
hand actually gripping her shoulder, she might have been pulled
back even then, but she twisted free blindly, shrieking, "No, Robin,
no, no—" and flung herself down the steep bank, to slip and hurl
downward and whirl around in the raging current to spinning
oblivion and death....
Many years later, Merrihew, grown old in the Space Service, falsified
a log entry to send his ship for a little while into the orbit of the tiny
green planet he had named Robin's World. The old buildings had
fallen into rotted timbers, and Merrihew quartered the little world for
two months from pole to pole but found nothing. Nothing but
shadows and whispers and the unending voices of the wind. Finally,
he lifted his ship and went away.
*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WIND PEOPLE
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