1. The narratives that vanquished peoples have created of their defeat have, according to Schivelbusch, fallen into several identifiable types. In one of these, the vanquished manage to the victor’s triumph as the result of some spurious advantage, the victors being truly inferior where it counts. Often the winners this interpretation, worrying about the cultural or moral costs of their triumph and so giving some credence to the losers’ story. Blank (i) Blank (ii) anoint take issue with construe√ disregard
acknowledge collude in√
2. That the President manages the economy is an assumption the prevailing wisdom that dominates electoral politics in the United States. As a result, presidential elections have become referenda on the business cycle, whose fortuitous turnings are the President. Presidents are properly accountable for their executive and legislative performance, and certainly their actions may have profound effects on the economy. But these effects are . Unfortunately, modern political campaigns are fought on the untenable premise that Presidents can deliberately produce precise economic results.
Blank (i) Blank (ii) Blank (iii)
at odds with justifiably personified in usually long-lasting peripheral to erroneously attributed to√ regrettably unnoticeable central to√ occasionally associated with largely unpredictable√
3. Of course anyone who has ever perused an unmodernized text of Captain Clark’s journals knows that the Captain was one of the most spellers ever to write in English, but despite this orthographical rules, Clark is never unclear. Blank (i) Blank (ii) fastidious disregard for√
indefatigable partiality toward
defiant√ unpretentiousness about
4. Having displayed his art collection in a vast modernist white space in _________ former warehouse, Mr. Saatchi has chosen for his new site its polar opposite, a riverside monument to civic pomposity that once housed the local government. There is nothing about the new location: the building’s design is bureaucratic baroque, style that is as declamatory as a task-force report and as self-regarding as a campaign speech.
Blank (i) Blank (ii) Blank (iii) a decadent atavistic an ascetic a claustrophobic spare√ a grandiose√
an unprepossessing pretentious√ an understated
Section 2
1. It is refreshing to read a book about our planet by an author who does not allow facts to be by politics: well aware of the political disputes about the effects of human activities on climate and biodiversity, this author does not permit them to ________ his comprehensive description of what we know about our biosphere. He emphasizes the enormous gaps in our knowledge, the sparseness of our observations, and the , calling attention to the many aspects of planetary evolution that must be better understood before we can accurately diagnose the condition of our planet.
Blank 1 Blank 2 Blank 3
overshadowed enhance plausibility of our hypotheses invalidated obscure certainty of our entitlement illuminated underscore superficiality of our theories
2. Vain and prone to violence, Caravaggio could not handle success: the more his ________ as an artist increased, the more his life became.
Blank 1 Blank 2 temperance tumultuous notoriety providential
eminence dispassionate
3. The author’s style renders a fascinating subject, the role played by luck in everyday life, extraordinarily .
Blank 1 Blank 2
soporific pedantic lucid tedious
colloquial opaque
4. From the outset, the concept of freedom of the seas from the proprietary claims of nations was challenged by a contrary notion—that of the of the oceans for reasons of national security and profit.
A. promotion
B. exploration
C. surveying
D. conservation
E. appropriation
5. Although it does contain some pioneering ideas, one would hardly characterize the work as .
A. orthodox
B. eccentric
C. original
D. trifling
E. conventional
F. innovative
6. The corporation expects only increases in sales next year despite a yearlong effort to revive its retailing business.
A. dynamic
B. predictable
C. expanding
D. modest
E. slight
F. volatile