FIB - 2 WORDS - 30th JULY

Question 1

Despite their initial fears, most environmentalists now concede that the arti􀀛cial reefs have had a largely _______ e􀀟ect on surrounding

ecosystems.

unfounded

benign

caustic

interminable

innocuous

plaintive

Question 2

Scholarship reductions and player defections notwithstanding, the new coach applied himself to rebuilding the program with such

_______ that the rest of the staff struggled to match his enthusiasm.

cessation

indifference

rhetoric

fervency

heedlessness

zeal

Question 3

After hours of practice and innumerable fruitless attempts to catch the balls, Allen was 􀀛nally forced to admit that he wasn't

sufficiently _______ to be a juggler.

sedate

lumbering

dexterous

implicit

adroit

awkward

Question 4

The cohesion of Alexander the Great's vast empire was _______; at his death, Alexander's lands were divided among his generals,

Ptolemy, Seleucus, and Antigonus the One-Eyed.

abiding

precarious

protracted

redoubled

renowned

tenuous

Question 5

His wife's icy stare and aloof demeanor told Johann unequivocally that his propitiatory gifts had failed to _______ her anger.

vilify

garner

exacerbate

aggravate

placate

appease

Question 6

By consuming _______ numbers of power bars, some athletes believe they will have proportionally greater amounts of endurance and

strength because of the energy-producing ingredients these products claim to contain.

scant

furtive

copious

solvent

measured

profuse

Question 7

The comprehensive bill, signed into law by the president late last week, was _______ 249 new regulations on the fishing industry.

elucidated by

rife with

deficient in

unencumbered by

replete with

exempted from

Question 8

The former employees started a blog that revealed the embarrassing quirks of the boss, an act which had _______ impact on the

company's CEO.

a virulent

an assuaging

a monumental

a discomfiting

a bolstering

a mortifying

Question 9

The late Samuel Huntington was well known for his _______ opinions on relations among di􀀟erent cultures; many of his ideas are still

passionately debated today.

zealous

pedantic

polemical

rhetorical

divisive

hegemonic

Question 10

The _______ plant life on the previously barren volcanic rock created by the Kilauea lava 􀀿ow is strong evidence that humans, too, will

one day be able to inhabit the area.

incipient

nascent

waning

fervent

flagging

static

Question 11

Regardless of the long-winded answers Michael consistently gave in class, his teachers remember him as _______ student, rather than a

garrulous one, because he generally kept to himself.

a taciturn

a voluble

an uncommunicative

a querulous

a disinterested

an eccentric

Question 12

For the cities at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, where the shortage of rain often leaves wells and rivers empty, a winter without

liberal snowfall will mean a _______ of the run-off that normally provides fresh water in the summer months.

proliferation

conduit

paucity

surfeit

dearth

burgeoning

Question 13

Despite her father's endeavors to placate his daughter every time she had a grievance, the young girl was simply _______ complainer, and

so could always find something else that displeased her.

an inveterate

an impertinent

a plaintive

an oblique

a chronic

an abysmal

Question 14

Few want to believe that Lisa de Giocondo, the woman popularly believed to have been the model for da Vinci's Mona Lisa, was a(n)

_______ person and prefer instead to think that there is an enigma behind the celebrated smile.

dulcet

artless

comely

facile

inscrutable

ingenuous

Question 15

Though the futurist conceded that Apple's iPhone was a revolutionary device, she was adamant that it would not be immune to the

same forces that caused such previous "game changing" products as Ford's Model T and Sony's Walkman to be considered _______.

avant-garde

electronic

circuitous

antediluvian

superannuated

radical

Question 16

The results of a survey of movie-goers gainsaid the scholar's claim that the 􀀛lmmakers' intent would remain opaque to most viewers;

it seems the metaphors employed were rather _______.

perspicuous

abstruse

manifest

aesthetic

cryptic

recalcitrant

Question 17

To call the area _______ was perhaps hyperbolic; while it was quaint and abstracted from the modern life of nearby cities, the presence

of mining equipment was decidedly imposing.

germane

gentrified

aplomb

bucolic

rancorous

quiescent

Question 18

In an era in which mass media is but a thrall of its corporate masters, the amateurish _______ of commercials for local businesses provide

a tonic for the slick homogeneity of most advertising.

amalgamations

eccentricities

synergies

conglomerations

syllogisms

idiosyncrasies

Question 19

Despite having earned over two hundred million dollars during his career, the boxer's _______ spending and bad investments left him

insolvent within a few years of retirement.

parsimonious

penurious

perfidious

prodigal

profligate

pugnacious

Question 20

When a Roman emperor visited a provincial city, an important part of the ceremony of receptio was the delivery of _______, in which a

When a Roman emperor visited a provincial city, an important part of the ceremony of receptio was the delivery of _______, in which a

local poet or orator would lavish praise on the imperial visitor.

a compendium

an elegy

an encomium

a jeremiad

a philippic

a panegyric