Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate word choices:

  1. Modernity appears to be particularly ____ mistaken ideas, perhaps because in breaking free from the chains of convention, the result is that we are very likely to be ____ unexamined hypothesis and unprepared actions.

A. immune to…accepting ofB. contrary to…reliant onC. disposed of…susceptible to

D. insensitive to…liberated fromE. fraught with…susceptible to

  1. The best antonym for GARRULOUS:

A. reticentB. absurdC. loquaciousD. gregariousE. unfriendly

  1. Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate word choices: The Chinese educational system has undergone positive ____ since the death of Mao Zedong and the political ____ of his ruthless associates.

A. restructuring…willingnessB. epiphanies…crestC.relinquishments…trappings D. misgivings…fall E. change…demise

  1. Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate word choices: Historically, rock music was peculiarly American, but ____, its ablest practitioners and ____ live elsewhere.

A. startlingly…dissentersB.now…developersC.increasingly…innovators D. progressively…insurrectionists E. justifiably…abettors

  1. Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate word choices: To his friends and family, Mark was a pleasant mix of ____ and congenial. To his business associates, however, Mark was as ____ as he was turgid.

A. approachable…regalB.demonstrative…farcicalC. nebulous…mundaneD. quaint…parsimonious E. affable…pretentious

  1. Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate word choices: In the subsequent research program, new varieties of pear trees were evaluated under different agricultural ____ for tree size, bloom density, fruit size, ____to various soils, and resistance to pests and disease.

A. conditions…malleabilityB.configurations…propensiC.circumstances…proximity D. auspices…susceptibility E. regulations…conformity

  1. Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate word choices: In high Victorian society, the management of estates and local communities was directed towards ____ and enhancing the bounty of the prestige and ____ of the aristocracy.

A.maintaining…condescensionB.authorizing…advocacyC. influencing…delicacy D. perpetuating…sway E. reverberating…obliteration

  1. Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate word choices: George Washington's marriage brought to him, in addition to the ____ of his own estate, the burden of the responsibility of the ____ of the large estate of Martha's first husband, Daniel Parke Custis, which she had inherited upon his death.

A.intendance…administrationB.encumbrance…dallianceC.infrastructure…subversion D. deliverance…extirpation E. diligence…maintenance

  1. With his sub-four minute mile Bannister broke a psychological barrier, and inspired thousands of others to attempt to overcome seemingly ____ hurdles.

A. insurmountableB. inaneC. trivialD. traumaticE. ineffable

  1. Ricks has written extensively not only on the poetry of such (i)____ figures in English poetry as Milton and Housman, but also on the less obviously (ii)____ lyrics of Bob Dylan.

Blank (i)

A. obscurantist

B. arcane

C. established

Blank (ii)

D. canonical

E. popular

F. judicious

  1. People who seek advice from (i)____ often find that what they are told can seem true, because these seekers of information attribute significance to some predictions and ignore others. The mind seeks to make sense of predictions that, in themselves, have no (ii)____ value, and thus it becomes difficult to prove that the forecasts are (iii)____ .

Blank (i)

A. experts

B. philosophers

C. clairvoyants

Blank (ii)

D. special

E. general

F. legal

Blank (iii)

G. genuine

H. specious

I. accurate

  1. Stress-induced amnesia is a rare and (i)____ phenomenon; it strikes the patient apparently without warning and the memory loss can be as (i)____ as that induced by (iii)____ trauma.

Blank (i)

A. devastating

B. venial

C. pervasive

Blank (ii)

D. generic

E. limited

F. complete

Blank (iii)

G. unexpected

H. mental

I. physical

  1. The publishers, unwilling to (i)____ the entire risk, insisted that the author pay half the cost of the initial print run of his (ii)____ new book.

Blank (i)

A. hedge

B. shoulder

C. mitigate

Blank (ii)

D. unexceptionable

E. controversial

F. jaundiced

  1. Science advances (i)____ as (ii)____ change abruptly and we are forced to stop and reorient ourselves to view old information in new ways.

Blank (i)

A. exponentially

B. inexorably

C. jerkily

Blank (ii)

D. paradigms

E. axioms

F. continuities

  1. The game of chess is an example of a ___ information system: the pieces sit inertly on the board until the players move them according to known rules.

A. interactiveB. passiveC. cyberneticD. disruptiveE. logistic

  1. 8. A highly intelligent person often thinks (i)____; a few snippets of information can trigger a (ii)____ conclusion that might not stand up to closer, and (iii)____, scrutiny.

Blank (i)

A. too deeply

B. too warily

C. too quickly

Blank (ii)

D. firm

E. labored

F. hasty

Blank (iii)

G. slower

H. precipitous

I. overt

  1. Major philosophical (i)____ about morality, identity and rationality, for example, can often be (ii)____ by thought experiments: short and simple expositions that pose an abstract and complex problem in a concrete manner with all the (iii)____ factors removed.

Blank (i)

A. certitudes

B. dilemmas

C. dogmas

Blank (ii)

D. mimicked

E. illuminated

F. evoked

Blank (iii)

G. extraneous

H. inherent

I. pivotal

  1. All good comic writers use humor to ____, not to side-step the problems of human behavior.

A. amuseB. avertC. juxtaposeD. confrontE. solve

  1. When staying in a hotel, Bernard would arrange for his valet to bring him his newspaper in the dining room so that everyone would realize that he had a manservant; this (i)____ embarrassed his nephew who, though equally rich, preferred a more (ii)____ life-style.

Blank (i)

A. ostentation

B. arrogance

C. dissimulation

Blank (ii)

D. opulent

E. libertine

F. understated

  1. Although he was finally (i)____, the years of (ii)____ tore apart his social circle, ruined his health and (iii)____ his mind.

Blank (i)

A. incriminated

B. vindicated

C. acclaimed

Blank (ii)

D. dedication

E. self-doubt

F. suspicion

Blank (iii)

G. sharpened

H. deranged

I. mellowed

  1. As Gerard (i)____ the (ii)____ that greeted his work, he became increasingly smug.

Blank (i)

A. repudiated

B. humbly accepted

C. basked in

Blank (ii)

D. accolades

E. opprobrium

F. lack of interest

  1. It is a common complaint that people today have a short attention span. But is it that people are (i)____ if the television camera (ii)____ a view, or is it that the (iii)____ from one angle to another has trained the viewer to expect variety?

Blank (i)

A. satisfied

B. fascinated

C. impatient

Blank (ii)

D. lingers over

E. cuts short

F. rapidly changes

Blank (iii)

G. constant shift

H. delay in moving

I. inability to move

  1. The (i)____ and virtuosity required of a jazz player make jazz seem to lack (ii)____; this apparently amorphous flow can make it hard for people with traditional expectations of musical stability to acquire a taste for this genre.

Blank (i)

A. controlled playing

B. inventiveness

C. emotional distance

Blank (ii)

D. inherent structure

E. underlying rhythm

F. controlled emotions

  1. An artist’s preliminary sketches are often a ____of a subject; on the basis of these sketches the artist makes a decision on his or her approach to the final painting.

A. reconnaissanceB. caricature C. vignette D. pastiche E. cameo

  1. Taking antibiotics for a viral infection may, it is true, be ____ ; however, in certain cases a course of these drugs can actually ward off opportunistic bacterial infections.

A. justifiedB. enoughC. recommendedD. ineffectiveE. curative

  1. Rock music has often been credited with (or decried for) containing (i)____ messages, purportedly to influence the minds of (ii)____ listeners.

Blank (i)

A. criminal

B. overt

C. subliminal

Blank (ii)

D. preordained

E. unsuspecting

F. covert

  1. It cannot be denied that without creative reasoning it would not have been possible to (i)____ of classical physics. Yet classical physics has no contribution to make to the understanding of (ii)_____. This kind of (iii)____ is surprisingly common in logic as well as in life.

Blank (i)

A. dispute the value

B. lay the foundations

C. understand the basics

Blank (ii)

D. creative reasoning

E. other sciences

F. the arts

Blank (iii)

G. circular reasoning

H. inflexibility

I. symmetry

  1. During a decade of (i)____, social scientists sought to (ii)____ the idea of the family as a healthy and stabilizing force, and replace it with the view that the family was (iii)____.

Blank (i)

A. moderation

B. conservatism

C. iconoclasm

Blank (ii)

D. promote

E. debunk

F. iconize

Blank (iii)

G. moribund

H. progressive

I.paramount

  1. Unwilling to admit that they had been in error, the researchers tried to ____ their case with more data obtained from dubious sources.

A. ascertainB. buttressC. refuteD. absolveE. dispute

  1. Archaeology is a poor profession; modest sums are available for excavating sites and even more (i)____ amounts for preserving the excavations. As a result many sites that are still to reveal even a fraction of their potentially vital information have been (ii)____ and left to the forces of Nature. Re-opening such sites in the future will be all but (iii)____.

Blank (i)

A. paltry

B. controversial

C. abundant

Blank (ii)

D. abandoned

E. overworked

F. denuded

Blank (iii)

G. trivial

H. impossible

I. rewarding

  1. The student was extremely foolhardy; he had the ____ to question the senior professor's judgment.

A. wisdomB. temerityC. interestD. trepidationE. condescension

  1. The formerly (i)____ waters of the lake have become (ii)____. So even though the waters are teeming with life, fish are no longer visible from the surface.

Blank (i)

A. murky

B. stagnant

C. pellucid

Blank (ii)

D. tranquil

E. verdant

F. turbid

  1. After the accident, the nerves to her arm were damaged and so the muscles ____ through disuse.

A. atrophiedB. contractedC. elongatedD. invigoratedE. dwindled

  1. Some critics maintain that Tennyson's poetry is uneven, ranging from the (i)____ to the (ii)____.

Blank (i)

A. succinct

B. trite

C. sublime

Blank (ii)

D. laconic

E. sonorous

F. inspired

  1. The immune system is capable of distinguishing self from other at the cellular level. After grafting, unless the immune system is effectively (i)____, there is a (ii)____ of lymphocytes in the lymph glands; the newly produced lymphocytes then move in to (iii)____ the foreign tissue.

Blank (i)

A. primed

B. suppressed

C. activated

Blank (ii)

D. reduction

E. proliferation

F. stasis

Blank (iii)

G. stimulate

H. regenerate

I. attack

  1. One (i)____ of the new scheme is that it might actually (ii)____ just those applicants that it was intended to encourage.

Blank (i)

A. attraction

B. highlight

C. drawback

Blank (ii)

D. induce

E. daunt

F. attract

  1. Corruption is (i)____ our society; the integrity of even senior officials is (ii)____.

Blank (i)

A. rife in

B. endangered throughout

C. alien to

Blank (ii)

D. suspect

E. intact

F. unquestioned

  1. In their day to day decision making, many senior managers do not follow the apparently (i)____ model favored by orthodox management experts, but rather rely on intuitive processes that often appear (ii)____ and (iii)____.

Blank (i)

A. conscientious

B. normal

C. rational

Blank (ii)

D. thoughtful

E. cerebral

F. capricious

Blank (iii)

G. logical

H. iconoclastic

I. deliberate

  1. He was treated like a ____ and cast out from his community.

A. asceticB. prodigyC. prodigalD. pariahE. tyro

  1. The teacher accused me of (i)____ because my essay was so similar to that of another student. Once I was able to (ii)____ myself, the teacher viewed the other student’s denials with more (iii)____.

Blank (i)

A. plagiarism

B. procrastination

C. decorum

Blank (ii)

D. vindicate

E. inculpate

F. reprieve

Blank (iii)

G. credulity

H. cognizance

I. skepticism

  1. We live in a ____ age; everyone thinks that maximizing pleasure is the point of life.

A. ubiquitousB. propitiousC. sporadicD. corruptE. hedonistic

  1. After having subjected the patient to an aggressive course of treatment that in itself could be (i)____, the doctor was thankful that the disease had gone into (ii)____ . He was able to tell the patient that symptoms might (iii)____ for many years.

Blank (i)

A. refulgent

B. life-enhancing

C. life-threatening

Blank (ii)

D. remission

E. quarantine

F. sequestration

Blank (iii)

G. not recur

H. persist

I. malinger

  1. People from all over the world are sent by their doctors to breathe the pure, (i)____ air in this mountain region to counteract the (ii)____ effects of their urban existence.

Blank (i)

A. insalubrious

B. soporific

C. invigorating

Blank (ii)

D. deracinating

E. stimulating

F. debilitating

  1. As were many colonial administrators, Gregory was (i)____ in his knowledge of the grammar of the local language, though his accent was almost (ii)____ .

Blank (i)

A. deficient

B. faultless

C. erratic

Blank (ii)

D. unintelligible

E. germane

F. stentorian

  1. Though Adam Bede is presented to us by the author as ____ fiction, there are none of the life-like meanderings of the story of Amos Barton.

A. realisticB. romanticC. imaginativeD. educationalE. entertaining

  1. There is a general (i)____ in the United States that our ethics are declining and that out moral standards are (ii)____ . That is not to say, however, that (iii)____ will translate into action.

Blank (i)

A. complaint

B. optimism

C. cliché

Blank (ii)

D. improving

E. deteriorating

F. resurgent

Blank (iii)

G. morality

H. awareness

I. belligerence

  1. Homo sapiens, the proud splitter of the atom, inventor of the electronic computer, (i)____ of the genetic code may be humbled by a lowly (ii)____ of the sewers and soils – the microbe.

Blank (i)

A. designer

B. author

C. decipherer

Blank (ii)

D. creation

E. denizen

F. rodent

  1. After centuries of (i)____, this philosopher's thesis is enjoying a surprising (ii)____ .

Blank (i)

A. limelight

B. obscurity

C. longevity

Blank (ii)

D. renaissance

E. decimation

F. neglect

  1. Scrooge, in the famous novel by Dickens, was a ____ ; he hated the rest of mankind.

A. misanthropeB. hypochondriacC. philanthropistD. hedonistE. sybarite

  1. A businessman must (i)____ his horizons; a (ii)____ attitude will get you nowhere in this age of global communications.

Blank (i)

A. limit

B. foresee

C. widen

Blank (ii)

D. parochial

E. moderate

F. comprehensive