section 1 easy
3. The (i)_____ of molecular oxygen on Earth-sized planets around other stars in the universe would not be (ii)_____ sign of life: molecular oxygen can be a signature of photosynthesis (a biotic process) or merely of the rapid escape of water from the upper reaches of a planetary atmosphere (an abiotic process).
Indications of two possibility
9. In a book that inclines to _____, an epilogue arguing that ballet is dead arrives simply as one more overstatement.
Main parts of the sentence
section 2 easy
1. Among the Meakambut people of Papua New Guinea, legends are associated with specific caves in the Sepik region, and these legends are _____: only the cave owner can share its secrets.
: not capable of or susceptible to change
4. Although trains may use energy more (i)_____ than do automobiles, the latter move only when they contain at least one occupant, whereas railway carriages spend a considerable amount of time running up and down the tracks (ii)_____, or nearly so.
(The second part praises the railway, so the first part should praise train. Thus, the first blank is positive.)
6. Within the culture as a whole, the natural sciences have been so successful that the word “scientific” is often used in (i)_____ manner: it is often assumed that to call something “scientific” is to imply that its reliability has been (ii)_____ by methods whose results cannot reasonably be (iii)_____.
: sincere affection and kindness : cordial regard
1: a tenet contrary to received opinion
5. Just because, as a photographer, Friedlander (i)_____(degree changes, more precise) places that most people consider ugly does not mean that he is out to prove they are beautiful. Instead, his work suggests that the photographer simply cannot ignore so much of the built American landscape but is obligated to (ii)_____ what we pass through day in and day out, regardless of (iii)_____.
1: to refuse to accept as true or accurate : disbelieve
- discredit a rumor
8. The laboratory maze has grown ever less _____ since it was first invented instead of hoping to lose a rodent in a labyrinth; today’s scientists design mazes to elicit a few simple, easily measured behaviors.
9. In mathematics, judgments about the validity of proofs are mediated by peer-reviewed journals; to ensure _____, reviewers are carefully chosen by journal editors, and the identity of scholars whose papers are under consideration are kept secret.
section 4 easy
1. In the last two hundreds years, the practice of archaeology has changed greatly, from digging up ancient artifacts for use by wealthy individuals as art objects to analyzing the detritus of everyday life in the laboratory, and thus from _____ to data collection.
2. History teaches us that science is not _____ enterprise; indeed, it is quite the opposite, a motley assortment of tools designed to safeguard researchers against their own biases.
c: consisting of or constituting a single unit
4. Despite having only recently learned to walk, toddlers make the most (i)_____ dance students. Their joy in movement is so pure, so complete, and so (ii)_____.
The last blank is positive
: marked by free, forthright, and sincere expression
- a frank reply
10. Edited collections of scholarly essays generally tend to be somewhat uneven: they suffer from the _____ subject matter of the various essays, the lack of an overarching and consistent thesis, and the variable quantity of the contributions.
The last 3 phrases convey very similar meanings.
Disorienting
2: reflecting, expressing, or offered in a spirit of deference or submission
- a humble apology
section 16 median
2. In protoscientific (for example, in ancient Greece), claims about the physical world were often accepted as true if they were reasonable; experimental verification, if thought necessary at all, was _____.
3. Though many professional book reviewers would agree that criticism should be (i)_____ enterprise, a tendency to write (ii)_____ reviews has risen, partly out of the mistaken belief that sharing personal details will help reviewers stand out of the pack
b: characterized by unguarded openness or self-revelation
- We live in a confessional culture, provoked by social media and the internet and the warmth of the human impulse to share and … commiserate.
2: narrowly, stodgily, and often ostentatiously learned
- a pedantic insistence that we follow the rules exactly
3: unimaginative, dull
not marked or governed by feeling, sensibility, or emotional idealism : not sentimental
- an unsentimental person
recapitulation
: a product of accretion;especially : an extraneous addition
- accretions of grime
rambling
1 a: to move aimlessly from place to place
b: to explore idly
7. After rising continuously over the summer, commodity prices fell, leaving analyst wondering whether the downward trend is a turning point or merely a _____ before demand picks up in the winter months.
3. Scholarly works on detective stories often begin with (i)_____, suggesting that there is
something vaguely wrong with adults who spend their time reading such fiction and certainly something (ii)_____ those who devote energy to its analysis.
: having or showing shrewdness and an ability to notice and understand things clearly : mentally sharp or clever
- an astute observer
: attracting or seeking to attract attention, admiration, or envy often by gaudiness or obviousness : overly elaborate or conspicuous : characterized by, fond of, or evincing ostentation
- an ostentatious display of wealth/knowledge
3. Computers have become adept in rarefied domains once thought to be uniquely human. However, they simultaneously have (i)_____ certain tasks basic to the human experience, including spatial orientation and object recognition, and in so doing, have shown us how (ii)_____ such fundamental skills truly are.
: having no fixed course : wandering
- an erratic comet
6. Common sense tells me some people are more (i)_____ than others. The claim that these differences are (ii)_____, or that deep down, everybody acts only to further their own interests, (iii)_____ our everyday observations and deep-seated human practices of moral evaluation.
The very beginning of the second sentence is different from the first sentence. So, a negative word is needed to balance.
2. Though humanitarian emergencies are frequent features of television news, such exposure seldom _____ the public, which rather seems resigned to a sense of impotency.
A. paralyzes
B. demoralizes
C. assuages
D. galvanizes
E. exasperates
Persistence survival
8. At first, most of the famous fairy tales seem so implausible and so irrelevant to contemporary life that their _____ is hard to understand.
: not disputed or challenged : not contested
- the uncontested winner
long-standing
: of long duration
- a long-standing dispute
section 21 median
3. Although the political science professor’s paper is quite (i)_____ about the government’s problem, suggesting that they are part of (ii)_____ a process, the prognosis for the government is, on the contrary, actually quite auspicious.
Use logic to solve this
9. Benjamin Franklin’s reputation is so much one of appearing scientific investigation with commonsense empiricism that it is somewhat startling (change the direction) to realize how _____ the great experiment’s mentoring truly was.(exclamatory sentence;)
section 22 median
1. Motivation is the hardest of all managerial tasks, and it is _____ to expect a single memo, no matter how well crafted,(this part tells you the attitude) to have much effect on the staff’s attitude.
3 a: very different from the usual or traditional : extreme
1: marked by fancy or unrestrained imagination rather than by reason and experience
- a fanciful person
4. The author of this travel guide (i)_____ to show his readers Cairo as it really is, but his
information is not reliable: (convey the same meaning) for example, his geography is (ii)_____, with one walking tour covering areas of the city that are twenty miles apart.
: to have the often specious appearance of being, intending, or claiming (something implied or inferred)
- a book that purports to be an objective analysis
: to exclude, hinder, or prevent by prior occupation or measures
- Negotiations failed to forestall the conflict.
5. Behavioral economists have come to believe that a (i)_____ of choices can be paralyzing as Schwartz pointed out in the recent book The Paradox of Choice. Studies of retirement plans show that the more investment choices a plan offers, the less likely people are to participate in it. It may follow, then, that a lack of flexibility in certain plans may actually be a (ii)_____. People reasonably (iii)_____ some advantages in exchange for peace of mind.
an enlightening or astonishing disclosure
- shocking revelations
having no physical existence
section 23 median
2. For the urban researcher, the long lives of ancient cities can provide ample chronological data, making up for the paucity stemming from relative _____ of most present-day cities.
3. The school system’s modest plan for curriculum improvements has (i)_____ local educators: some call it (ii)_____ effort, while others say it is a pragmatic approach given the complexity of the task.
section 24 median
1. Few studies have been published on ground-squirrel dispersal, and most of them have involved very small sample sizes, thus most statement regarding ground-squirrel dispersal must be considered _____.
: firmly established by long persistence
- the inveterate tendency to overlook the obvious
3. It would be naïve to treat remarks made in diaries or personal letters as giving especially candid access to historical truth or even as being expressions of the writer’s true state of mind, since the (i)_____ for exaggeration and deception in those forms is virtually nonexistent. Diaries and letters are rarely sites for (ii)_____.
(this question is extremely good.)
Theatrics staged or contrived effects
section 11 easy
5. At Cerro Portezuelo, the task of separating grinding tools from the larger collection of excavated stone objects was (i)_____ the ancient practice of recycling grinding tool fragments for building materials, hammer stones, and other purposes that (ii)_____ their original use.
a: something that fills up, completes, or makes better or perfect
- The scarf is a perfect complement to her outfit.
Two blanks are in the same orientation.
section 25 median
10. For all (despite) the _____ the new CEO has received from the press recently, her staff have a decidedly less rosy view of her.
section 27 median
1. Though many avant-garde writers _____ traditional distinctions among literary categories, combining elements of biography and fiction, prose and poetry, this fusion of forms has been slow to catch on with publishers.
1: to suppose beforehand
: to bring to the fore : highlight
- a crisis can illuminate how interdependent we all are
section 28 median
4. The book is not comprehensive but is, instead, (i)_____ in the most positive sense:(ii)_____ rather than settles.
Definitive 1: serving to provide a final solution or to end a situation
Settle
section 29 median
10. Space is often referred to as the final frontier, as the only realm of which humankind has still to gain substantial understanding, yet the ocean is also another vast area about which our knowledge is _____.
section 30 median
8. Tompkinson’s prior donations to the university, while very generous, failed to _____ the magnitude of her latest gift.
Compensate (two things)
